The Hardest Part

It's time to talk about where the rubber meets the road. Changing how we do charity and reversing benevolent oppression will be very hard. Not because we can't agree that it's necessary, but because many will not be able to actually follow through. Truly helping people can often be very painful. Both for the one helping and the one being helped.

On one of my visits to Kenya I was having a conversation with a man whose entire ministry depends on donations. He was concerned about the future because donors were reducing the size of their gifts or had ceased giving all together. He had not paid his staff in months and it was uncertain month to month if he would have enough money to buy food for the children in his care.

I challenged him to consider ways in which his ministry could become self-sustaining. I told him that depending on donors was not a good long term strategy. We discussed some of his dreams for creating a revenue producing enterprise. But they were just that; dreams. There were no solid plans. He couldn't even settle on one thing to pursue. I urged him to pick a single project, create a realistic business plan that included estimates on how much it would take to start and how long before the venture was turning a profit.

Over the course of the next year a generous donor was ready to support the launch of a sustainable business for this man and his ministry. He resisted all efforts to get a plan. He pushed back against offers to help build the facilities necessary to start a business. He missed an opportunity to get on the road to sustainable self-sufficiency. He did not get a single dollar from the donor who had money to give. And in this case it wasn't even a loan, but a gift.

While I'm heartbroken that the staff and children at this ministry will suffer, choosing to keep them wholly dependent on donations for their survival is not the right thing to do. Changing how we do charity means some will be left behind. And that simple sentence just divided those who have what it takes to reverse benevolent oppression and those who don't. If you are incensed at the idea that some will be left behind in the transition then you may not have the strength to make it happen.

More on what the pain of transition might look like in the next post.