The Cultural Challenge of Charity
May 5th, 2007 by Bethany
BYU's David M. Kennedy Center (where my International Studies major was housed) puts out a neat magazine called Bridges. The current issue is focused on culture, with articles on everthing from culture shock to the cultural side of human traficking. The article I was most interested in is by Jan R. Van Orman, BYU's assistant international VP and an International Development professor, called "The Cultural Challenge of Charity."
My sister, Abby, spent a summer in Uganda a couple years ago with an NGO that tries to help orphans of parents who have died of AIDS. After experiencing a lot of frustration at the disorganization and the lack of cooperation among the various charity organizations working in the region, when she got home she decided to learn how to improve the effectiveness of efforts to help these people in such great need.
Knowing about Abby's experience, reading Van Orman's article was especially interesting. She talks about how throwing money at seemingly financial problems without deeply understanding the cultural, social, and political context of the problem often backfires. She concludes with the suggestion that we keep our charitable efforts close to home and intensely personal so that we actually understand and are able to meet needs without unknowingly making things worse for those we try to assist. Check out the article at the above link on page 12.