When you first arrive in the Middle East, filled with hope, enthusiasm, and hubris about your ability to “make a difference”, you feel you can write a library shelf’s worth of books about the problems there, and how to solve them. Once you’ve been there for a couple of months, you realize that you might be able to eek out three or four tomes on the subject. Once you’ve been there a year, you realize there just are no words.

So Chris, don’t feel guilty about struggling with writing your time in Africa. In the face of abject suffering so great that one must really experience it to believe it actually exists, there just are no words.

Peace.

Writing about Africa & poverty is difficult, but I appreciated your thoughts on this.

Their literacy level was one major factor where the understanding was lacking to even enable properly answering the questions. So was their self esteem. Behind a low regard of themslves was the lack of knowlege to take up bettter positions in the job market. Behind that was found a deprivation of education. Apartied had taken its heavy toll.

Education Alive, among others, has since come in and started reversing this lack with huge successes. So yes, the long term remedy is very essential and reaps big rewards when this includes what we take so much for granted – a basic education.

I’m all for this as the result in self esteem and self reliance makes all the difference. Education and, more fundamental yet the teaching of how to learn, will do much to reverse the plight of those Africans – in leaps and bounds.

This is an excellent post. Your definitions of hope vs. despair are poignant. Especially since so much gov. aid and international “support” (a la IMF) gives loads of money but does *not* give freedom. It is dangerous when this type of support is touted as purely virtuous and honorable, masking the extreme dependency it can create.

But yes, I’m highlighting the bad. As you point out so well, the cliché of joy and sorrow has become a cliché for a reason.

Thanks for sharing this.

With emergency aid, donor money and international attention switches to the next crisis even before the first crisis is fully addressed. I understand the reasons for this – there’s only a limited amount of funds and many crises – but this “putting out fires” approach means that another crisis will likely happen in the first place since the roots of the original crisis were never resolved. Additionally, sustainable and long-term development will only happen when local communities contribute and own it as their own project. I’ve seen so many expensive donor projects with fancy signs and vehicles that will die once the donor money dries up. Sometimes the net effect on the community is for the worse. I look for sustainable development projects during my travels with the goal of understanding the elements that make these projects sustainable, and therefore successful. I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts on this issue.

“When in doubt, give anyway” – thanks for the reminder. We could use more reminders like that.

My husband gave money to a woman on the street once and I told him she was ripping him off. I’ve felt guilty about presuming that for years.

Thanks for the thoughtful and provocative points in this post.