Owning The Pond Together: Thoughts on how we do charity
I was having a conversation several weeks back with a friend in the seminary who is from Uganda. He has a passion for helping break the dependency that the churches and communities in his home country have on American Christians' money.
He told me that many of the Ugandan pastors and leaders feel pressure--indirect and direct--from their American supports to the extent that they have to model their ministers in such a way to keep supports and attract new ones.
This has become even more problematic in the past few years because American Christians now follow trends of charity (fashionable giving) based on the most recent issue. (Is human trafficking still in vogue?)
Which brings me to Haiti. Not to say that boots on the ground in Haiti isn't a good thing. They most certainly need our help and our financial resources. But already I am hearing that schools in Uganda that are dependent on donations from Americans to help fund the educational scholarships low on money that they are not sure how they will be able to operate. This, I am told, correlates to resources being diverted to Haiti.
A snippet from New Wine's an upcoming conference we'll be hosting has really got me thinking about how best to respond to Haiti, Uganda, and our very own neighborhoods.
People often think of caring for the poor in terms of giving them fish to eat, or better, teaching them to fish. Neither approach moves us beyond charity which keeps the poor dependent on us and is demeaning to their humanity. Community development involves partnering with the poor to own the pond. How do we sustain such community development?
The real question I ask about Haiti is whether our relief effort will allow them to sustain themselves, or if our relief effort will make them dependent on us. Money is required for both. However, the first one seeks for the resources that are put into Haiti to be reproduced by Haiti for Haiti. The second one would manifest itself as Haiti only having resources as long as we are sending it to them.
That will not last. There will be another cause right around the corner that will require our attention. We will have to respond by sending aid, workers, and money. Haiti will be on her own, but will she own the pond?
Hmm
I don't disagree with the thesis of this article, i.e., that aide and charity in general needs to promote independence. I am not impressed, though, by the revision of the fishing thing. It was already about sustainability, it didn't need any help.
Also, how do we fix the trendy charity problem (which is by no means limited to or even dominated by Christians (see: AIDS)). I can't blame people for giving to the issues that are put in front of them. At least they're giving something. What is the preferred alternative?
Of course not- the relief
Of course not- the relief that Jesus gives is in and of itself not sufficient to make us mature sons, nor would relief to Haiti be sufficient to make them self-sustaining; it is a jump start and an avenue that is alien to the so-far nourished perspective and habit, whether by active choice from a buffet of options or a forced hand you are dealt and must play with, as seems to be Haiti's case. I think whichever prophet/psalmist in the old testament remarked that we are to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn probably best captured that heart and activity of God and his house towards people, as far as love and genuine support [than inherently makes way for growth and real change] are concerned
I said not sufficient; I
I said not sufficient; I meant was not engineered to be a panacea or one-hit wonder [the grace we experience initially with christ/first freedom and release is a chance and moment for us to begin or continue onward in a our deepening intimacy with Christ and God]
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