Why Giving is a Bad Idea

Giving is Hard

I recently found the below article. It is a very interesting read and highlights the complicated art of giving.

It is written by Daniela Papi of www.pepytours.com

Malcolm

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In the rural Cambodian district where we work at PEPY, most people were drinking directly from the local pumps.  We had the water tested and found high levels of bacteria so we identified what we believe to be the best and most affordable filter and decided to try to get these used in the community.  We saw that there was a man in a town 10km away who had begun selling these in his shop and we were able to purchase them and have them delivered to our target area to be sold for the same price at $11.50.

We invited someone from the organization where the filters are made to come explain how they work, how they are made, and how best to take care of them. The teachers were given charts with this information and were taught how to then present this information to anyone who was purchasing a filter.

The filter program worked well and the teachers were able to get over 150 water filters into local homes. The price for the filter is not insignificant, but the community had seen the results of having clean water as we had been using the filters in the local schools and had drastically increased attendance at school as absences due to sickness went down. We were excited about the benefits these new filters would have on the overall community health.

Then a foreign funded group came though, looking to “help the poor people” of the area. They began selling the same filters at $3 each, far below what they had paid for them.

In one day, without knowing it, they actually greatly HARMED the potential for health increases in the area. They thought they were “doing good” by giving things away, or subsidizing them, but instead, without knowing much about the area, they:

• damaged the market potential for both our teacher’s filter sales program and the nearby shop owner
  
  
• built mistrust as the community now thought the filters really should have been much cheaper or that they should hold off on buying them as someone might come give them one
  
  
• did not do the training/education necessary to actually help people understand how/why they work - so people are not taking care of them, thereby undermining the power of the very filters they distributed
  
  
• created a situation where the richer (all relative of course) people no longer want that product. It is now viewed as “cheap” - subsidized to the poor people, so it must not be good, in their minds. Those who can afford it have now been saving up for the nearly $20 filters being marketed by Korean groups which are much more high tech looking but actually do not remove bacteria from the water, but with a higher price tag, no education coming with the product, and community trust damaged, some are using their very limited budgets to buy a product which is often essentially one month’s worth of income and not effective.

In this case, “giving things away” took away the very thing they were trying to provide: a chance to have clean
water

Technology Issues in the Developing World

My dearly departed laptop.
I had to work with it for about
a month in this condition

Who thinks it is a good idea to get computers into developing countries?

Hand's up if you agree.  Good, good...

It's hard to disagree with, isn't it?

Getting technology into developing areas is hard though.

Buyaya is a problem for us because there is no electricity in the village.  We plan to solve this with our solar-powered school.

The bigger problem however is highlighted in our Romblon program.  The computers in Romblon have problems as computers often do.  Windows spits the dummy and the computer goes belly up.

What are the people in Romblon to do at that point?

They can't fix it because they lack the technical nous.  They can't pay to get it fixed as it is too expensive.  They are left with a very heavy paper weight.

So what's the solution?  I think whenever you roll out a technology based project you need to think maintenance, maintenance, and maintenance.

The easiest way to do that is via a program like Ghost.  Once you have set up the computers in a good state, the Ghost software will allow you to roll the computer back to that state whenever you want.  Very useful and doesn't require much technical nous at all.

Visiting the Ivanhoe Mining Offices

Power to the Peaceful

Ivanhoe Mining are the people who want to destroy Tablas island by mining its copper, gold and silver.

Their offices are just a short drive from where I live here in Canada.  So, I thought I'd head off and see exactly where they are and get a sneaky photo of myself outside their offices while I was at it.

Megin Alvarez - my partner in crime, thought we should have knocked on the door and then ran away.

Their offices are right next to where the cruise liners come in.  We figure we'll do a protest just as a cruise liner comes in.

Stay tuned for more.

Safety vs. Aid

Bullet Ridden Wall in Kitgum

Safety vs. Aid.  It's a hard balance.

The Global Fund recently scaled backs its efforts in the Ivory Coast as political violence escalates.

What would you do in that situation?  Would you continue to distribute malaria nets and vaccines if your life was in significant danger?

If you'd asked me about five years ago, I would have said yes.

About five years ago I headed off to the war-torn Kitgum in the north of Uganda.  Despite a ceasefire being called by the warring factions, Kitgum was still in the state of war.  It was (and is) a dangerous place and it was foolish to go.

(A positive that came out of the experience was the establishment of Grassroots Uganda, which has sent tens-of-thousands of dollars to the most needy in the North.)

Would I go now?  Would I head off to a war-torn region to help the less fortunate?

Probably not.

I am great believe in sacrificing your life for a cause.  The trick is to do it one day a time...

This may or may not become an issue in Romblon as mining companies move in.  Mining companies are always accompanied by the military in the Philippines...

No Mining on Tablas Island!

Tablas Island

Tablas Island - home of Meaningful Volunteer; home of clean, pristine and drinkable water; home of endless beaches; home of many people I love, is on the verge of being exploited by Ivanhoe Mining of Canada.

Check out this video for some background.

I feel sick when I watch that video.  I recognize the places.  Heck, I think I even recognize some of the faces.

Official documents are coming forth.  Barangays (villages) are making stands.  Check out these minutes from Barangay Sangguniang.

According to 101.3 FM, people have 10 days to file claims or else forfeit their rights to the mining company.  Let that phrase sink in "forfeit your rights to the mining company"

What's the bet that Ivanhoe Mining got more than 10 days to file their claims?

Ivanhoe Mining's record is not good.

• The Monywa Copper Mine in Burma displaced at least 200 families, led the exploitation of many workers - often at no pay (read slavery), dumping waste product in the Chindwin River.  Heck some villages started boiling the water to extract the copper sediment and sell it back to the government!
  
  On the plus side though, the copper is being used by a Chinese weapons manufacturer...

• Then there is the Summitville Mine disaster in Colorado where cyanide solution leaked from the mine, poisoning the Alamosa River in 1991.

• And let's not forget the Omai mining disaster in 1995.

And now Ivanhoe mining is coming to Romblon.

What might happen in Romblon?  Well, take a look at what happened on Marinduque Island in the Philippines.  Fish stocks plummeted, the water was poisoned, people were poisoned



Out of sight, out of mined from Oxfam Australia on Vimeo.


If you're ever in Manila and get a chance to visit the human rights office there, make sure you take a look at the "Martyr Wall".  On the wall are pictures of some of the 900 activists who died under the reign of President Arroyo (and now President Aquino).

Many of those people were environmental activist who stood up to the mining companies and their practises.

I'm worried about this.  Very, very worried.

Top 10 Myths About Volunteering in Africa

Is excessive money
essential for volunteering?

Budget Traveller lists ten myths about volunteering in Africa.  I agree with most of the list, but not all of the list, so I thought I would respond here.

10. You have to be rich to volunteer. I can’t afford it.
Define "rich".  I live in Canada and the plane flights alone are around $US 1,600.  Plus there are the fees on top of that. So maybe not "rich", but at least having some sort of disposable income.

9. You have to volunteer for months at a time, and who has time?
The article says that you can volunteer for a week at a time.  Well, yeah you could volunteer, but meaningfully volunteer?  I don't think so.

Meaningful Volunteer has a one month minimum commitment just for this reason.

8. I won’t know anyone, so it’ll be scary.
Of course it is going to be scary. That is part of the fun!

When I first volunteered in Uganda, the Philippines and Ghana I literally knew no one in those countries.  Now I have made life long friends in all of those places.

7. I won’t have any food.
If you volunteer with an organization where you aren't provided with food, then you are in big trouble!

Meaningful Volunteer provides three meals a day.

6. I’ll get sick from the water.
Don't drink the water the locals drink!  There is plenty of bottled water available almost everywhere.


5. Volunteer organizations are just out to make money – why would I want to contribute to that?
Some are. We aren't.  We are passionate about our non-profit roots.


4. There will be scary animals.
The worst you'll come across are rats and mice.


3. It’s dangerous in other countries. I’ll be a target for crime.
There is some truth to this.  A foreigner is rich by Africa's standards.  You'll most likely be carrying a large amount of cash, a digital camera and so on. For a desperately poor African who needs money to feed his kids, that's a big temptation.  


We shouldn't kid ourselves about safety.  We should look at it realistically and act accordingly.  This is why Meaningful Volunteer goes to great lengths to keep our volunteers safe.


2. I’m too old to volunteer.
Bah.  If my mother can volunteer, then anyone can volunteer.


1. There are so many problems in developing countries. There is no way I can make a difference.
There are big problems in Africa.  No doubt about it.  But volunteers can and do make meaningful differences.  I've seen it too many times to doubt otherwise.

Teaching Literacy to Adults is a Waste of Time

Literacy classes for Adults

Teaching literacy to adults is a waste of time.  A more constructive use of our time would be to concentrate of the youth.

Right? Right?!

Well, not according to Tumushabe Boneconcila.  After attending a Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) class and acquiring some basic business skills, her restaurant business thrived!

Now she is in the position to send all nine of her children to school.

So, by concentrating on the literacy of one African women, nine children are now going to school.

This is why Meaningful Volunteer runs adult literacy classes in Uganda.