Gifts for an African child- some tough choices
Something happened here on International Women’s Day(IWD). After reading my blog DO THEY KNOW IT IS INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY, the Birds on the Blog were so touched by the plight of girls in the developing world that they decided to sponsor a girl in Ruhanga a remote village in SW Uganda
And by the end of IWD our collection amounted to 2 years of school fees, meals and a uniform for a 3 year old orphan. The discussions moved gifts for “our” girl and the most obvious were toys and clothing.
A question to the Boss as to how many posts I “owed” her led to a request to write about the “right” sort of things to send to an African child. As the Boss quite rightly put it toys that require batteries are a not ideal as they can’t always replace the batteries in order to use them. This got me thinking about this topic in wider context.
All children love toys and some adults too, in fact my favourite toy ( ok gadget) is my iphone, not quite sure how I would cope without one!
We love clothes too and some amongst spend a fortune each month on clothing, in some case we but clothing that we never get to wear! I have never quite understood this but hey, such is life. In the developed world toys and clothing are much easier to get hold of, we are spoilt for choice and are only limited by how much we can afford.
class of 2009
In the spirit of generosity we give away unwanted clothing and toys to those that need them. This is the way the world should function all things being equal “those that have helping those without”
But and this a big BUT, is this really the best thing or right thing to do when it comes to the developing world in particular? I can hear you ask why not?
I would like you to consider this, if you pass on your unwanted clothing to someone here in the UK, we have sufficient recycling facilities and technology to deal with fabrics like nylon and plastic to ensure that they do no end up on agriculture land or waterways. But this isn’t the case in most developing countries and it is not uncommon for a nylon blouse or shirt to end up on a farm and being eaten by a cow or goat with dire consequences both the animal and the family.
The other side to this is these “gifts” kill off local industry! Most of the clothing and toys that are collected and sent to Africa for instance are not necessarily handed out to those that need them but are instead sold in our equivalent of “flea” markets. The clothing is fashionable and cheaper than what is available locally, and for the local consumer it is not a tough a choice.
For the local fabric producers, the choice is, go out of business as you can’t compete or if you are lucky and can acquire all manner of certificates for your cotton or silk you may sell onto the international markets.
The irony here is that the clothing made from this exported fabric will return in the form of Armani suits (made from Malagasy silk) that the locals cannot afford or in cheap fashionable second hand clothing that kills of the textile industry.
My question is WHAT DOES ONE DO FOR THE BEST? If you have any ideas/suggestions please share them
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About Sarah ArrowSarah Arrow is the managing editor of Birds on the Blog, in real life she is the communications director of a same day courier service. She is an enthusiastic UK based pro-blogger and co- author of the soon to be published Zero to Blogger
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15 Responses to Gifts for an African child- some tough choices
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Fantastic blog Ida! I don't know what the answer is, but your blog really made me think, and raises issues I would never have thought about. Charity isn't just about giving, it's about giving thoughtfully.
A friend to a number of the Birds on this site supports a number of charities, and in all cases it is about supporting the intended recipients, not undermining them. So for example, women in Africa may be given the tools and training to start their own micro businesses so that they can become self-sufficient. Orphans in India might be given computer access and training in IT and languages so that they can find employment. These things make a real difference to the individuals, but also to their communities, without undermining local suppliers.
Even giving money to an established charity doesn't necessarily mean the funding going where it is most needed or does the most good. I'm really ignorant in these matters, and will look forward to hearing the comments of others, and learning from your experience, Ida.
Twitter: evenbreak
It really is hard to know what to do for the best. As a starting point “DO NO HARM” is a good philosophy to work with. Understanding how the community/country in which you intend to work is vital.
We currently buy school uniforms for the children here in the UK ( WoolWorths was very good for us) but we are looking at giving that job to a local seamstress and thereby create employment in the village.
I had discussions with a school and some parents in Gambia about buying cloth wholesale at the beginning of the year for school uniforms and also getting special rates from local tailors with all profits being recirculated to provide school uniforms for the parents who can't afford them or to fund other resources for the school.
The biggest issue is trust. Unfortunately, because everyone is poor and because of loyalties to extended families it can be hard to ensure that the benefits are spread around and that it doesn't just become additional income for the PTA committee and headmaster.
Yes trust can a real issue, so not sure how well we will do on that front. Interestingly we have done fairly well regarding the supply of desks for the classroom. One the volunteers we had taught a local man how to work with wood and we have sourced all the desks from him.
I have often thought about these issues and for the most part now I avoid sending old things people no longer want to people/projects in Africa (except for some times as personal gifts to friends) – there are loads of reasons for this which include the issue about local suppliers – but also others. I first thought about this many years ago when i was a volunteer in Zimbabwe and created a library out of donated books – so many of the things in the donated books were things the kids in eastern Zimbabwe had never seen (e.g. sea and fun fairs) that they didn't seem the best support for language learning – in the end I asked people to send money to buy books in the local language and English books written in Zimbabwe – I think as people who are actively involved in supporting projects we have a responsibility to think about all these issues – and to ask charities to engage in the debate and explain how they work so that givers and receivers can make informed choices!
All these are very pertinent comments. And I do worry about the proportion of aid that simply never gets to its destination (why does no-one ever address this issue?).
I'm a big fan of projects like The One Organisation (http://www.onedifference.org) which sell various products in the west to give 100% of their profits towards projects in Africa. For instance, if you buy One Water (sold in the Co-op and some other major retailers), the profits buy PlayPumps. These pumps are in the form of children's roundabouts and pump up water from beneath the ground as the children (and adults!) play. To me this is perfect, especially if the pumps are produced locally, creating local employment.
If we can take care of the basics of water and buildings for schools, then those in the developing country have more capacity to look after other matters through their local economy. Aid which creates dependency is not aid at all.
Equally, at Christmas, we buy things like goats, seeds and other useful self-help items through Oxfam Unwrapped, rather than sending money.
Is there something that can be done to recycle stacks of (UK) children's VHS videotapes and DVDs? If so I have loads of those would just love to send them on to kids who might enjoy them. Obviously PAL format rather the NTSC.
Twitter: SuzeStMWrites
But surely, Suze, the vast majority of kids don't have access to electricity, let alone technology? That's half our problem in the west: we don't understand quite how different life can be.
The 17 year old daughter of one of my friends spent 3 months in Uganda last year and came back a totally changed person as a result. It did her a power of good to see that Ugandan kids aren't just like slightly poorer British kids.
True – but for some kids who go to a school or other community place, there might be electricity to power a TV monitor/playback?
Twitter: SuzeStMWrites
An interesting point you raise Mary Ann, regarding books. The books that help local children learn and understand English language for instance are very different from those used here as there are designed for people that speak English as a second language. The other thing too, teaching the English alphabet using pictures, is far much easier if it relates to things/items that a child can point out from their locality.
You also have to be careful not to take over governments roles in providing civic services. Start with DO NO HARM, understand who will maintain it and why it is not being provided currently!
Part of our project is a community centre for the village to use. We have had DVD's made and translated into local languages. These are purely on subjects such as HIV, Malaria and basic business skills.
The advantage of many of the progs produced for very young children is that there are few if any words to be understood – e.g. Pingu.
Twitter: SuzeStMWrites
Hello Ida
Great – and very interesting post, which I have been mulling for the last 24 hours. There aren't any easy answers are there – but your post about creating more value for products manufactured in Afrcia and then opening up more distribution opportunities for them around the world, might have a bearing here. It seems that learning and the development of skills would be a good idea (and that can be fun too!) for children both now and in the future. I wonder if investment in some sort of scheme that encouarges students (from say secondary school through to university students) here to develop techniques and programmes that would enable the sharing of knowledge, information and skills would be of benefit. For example, getting uni tech students to perhaps build a communication centre in a school in Africa that would allow remote networking and teaching via satellite, encourage exchange visits and so on. The programmes could incorporate play activities as well as sharing practical skills.
Just a thought – and I don't know how practical it would be to set up a scheme like that.
Elaine
Hi Elaine,
An interesting observation indeed. There is certainly a growing interest in transferring of skills and technology to those without to enable them to trade, manufacture etc. The question is one of of commitment on the part of policy makers
It would certainly benefit both students here and those in the developing world to spend time together in some sort of student exchange.
We are hoping that teaming up with Hastoe Housing Association will encourage some of their leaseholders and tenants to come out and spend time in the village in SW Uganda and share what they know with the community.