The Challenge of Change

It's said that the only one's who like change are babies with a dirty diaper and in my experience even some of those babies seem quite content with a diaper full of poop. So it makes sense that after decades of lavishing money on people as our primary way being charitable that it will be difficult for those on both sides of the exchange. Let's start with the word charity and see how we use it. I say 'Charitable' and you say...

• giving
• donation
• tax deduction
• cause

When you get an envelope from a charity at the end of the year what are they asking for? So we have created an entire charitable industry based on the premise that you give them money and they give that money to people in need, to the tune of billions of dollars a year. The money that's been funneled into Haiti alone just since the 2010 earthquake comes to over $11,000,000,000 (that's billion with a 'b').

According to the U.K. Mail a year ago, on the second anniversary of the earthquake, a whopping total of 4,768 new homes had been built in Haiti and 13,578 had been repaired. If you do the math that comes out to about $600,000 per home built or repaired.

Yes, I know that not all that money went for construction. But I also know personally of charitable organizations that spent millions for construction equipment, homes and other projects with very little to show for it. The construction equipment has vanished, the homes are not fully occupied and the money is all gone. At this point I want to make the disclaimer that some good things are happening in Haiti, but I can't say that. If you read the U.K. Mail article it points out that poverty is worse in Haiti than it's ever been. Cholera has claimed the lives of thousands more people. Tens of thousands still live in squalid tent cities and the city of Port Au Prince is still in shambles three years and ELEVEN BILLION DOLLARS LATER! Here's a quote from the article...

 ‘Aid did some good and saved some lives early on but ultimately led to more division, more cynicism and made the mercantile class even richer,’ says Mark Schuller, a  U.S. anthropologist who teaches in Haiti. ‘In the end the way the aid was delivered, the lack of co-ordination and the lack of respect for the Haitian people (emphasis mine) did more harm than good. It would have been better if they had not come.’

There's no denying we have a monumental task in front of us if we are to reverse the devastating effects of our charity. There are two questions we have to ask of those in need and of ourselves. The first is one we've always asked and the second is what follows immediately after the answer we've conditioned the world, and ourselves, to give.

Question #1: How can I help you?
Question #2: If I'm not going to give you money, how can I help you?

The answer to question number two might be a long time in coming, but that answer is where we start afresh.