Donating feels good, but is that the goal?
People who have spent time in these areas (not as tourists) often notice the hugely damaging effects of many charities. If Western societies had relied on charity in pre-industrial times, they might never have been forced to develop strong institutions and welfare systems. Instead, they might have evolved into begging cultures.
These systems are incredibly difficult to develop because doing so goes against our selfish nature. In Tanzania, across Africa, and in many other parts of the world, people often care only about their own circle—in other words, their own family and kin.
I do believe wealth should be shared. It shouldn't be a choice; it should be an obligation. But not like this.
The ultimate goal of charities should not be to enrich individuals, but to help them build cooperative societies capable of supporting the most vulnerable.
I believe your donation only makes the problem worse. Helping people is much harder than simply giving money to someone in a way that makes you feel good about yourself—without even getting into the many Western NGO workers who profit from posts like this.
The ultimate goal of charities should not be to enrich individuals, but to help them build cooperative societies capable of supporting the most vulnerable.
I agree with that. But paying for a kids school is not enriching individuals. They don't get a financial benefit out of it, they just get education, which in the end is something that can only be applied individually. Meaning that while you could build a school for a whole village instead, in this case there is probably already a school there, it's just that the school system is set up such that you still need to pay for the school uniform, books, food, fees, etc, and some families can't even afford that.
And it'd not like local cooperation doesn't happen. I know one family who took in kids from their village from a disabled mother who could not care for them so that they could go to school. The family that we rented our rooms from was always full of people because they took in relatives from their village so they could get a chance at finding work in the city. I had kids where the families already did their best to cover the cost, but sometimes it wasn't enough. So I added a little bit to cover the rest. To enable them to participate on a school trip that they would otherwise have to sit out on. To buy lunch instead of going hungry until they got home because the money was just a bit short.
So what Luke is doing is just more of what the locals are doing already. Finding cases that fall through the cracks.
The thing with building cooperative societies is that it starts with education. You can't just waltz in as a foreigner into a village and say: OK, we are going to teach you how to cooperate. That doesn't work. You teach a few individuals by being an example of what it means to be cooperative and then let the locals spread the experience. But this takes the work of many people. Luke is doing what he can as an individual from where he is, and he has to trust that his efforts will add to the efforts of others, locals and non-locals alike to eventually make a difference. I actually moved here to do the same in a different way, but that's not something everyone can do, nor should they.
Helping people is much harder than simply giving money to someone in a way that makes you feel good about yourself
True, but again, paying for someones education is not doing that.
I appreciate you sharing you opinion but I disagree on a few levels.
First of all, no western NGO workers profit from the Tanzania Education Project. On the western side, I'm doing all the work and I take zero money and I never will take money from this effort. All the money (except for bank fees) goes to the kids education and healthcare.
On the Tanzanian side, I think things are more complicated than you are presenting. While you may be right about western societies in pre-industrial times, we are no longer in pre-industrial times. Tanzania got their independence in 1964. Before that they were systematically oppressed by a host of different countries who would mine their resources, steal their land, and force their population into labor. Today's landscape is different. Powerful nations like the US and China compete for rights to Tanzania's minerals, they own their businesses, and they interfere in politics.
I've spoken at length with an economically and geographically diverse set of Tanzanian's about how to address the issues in their country. Every time the conversation returns to education. In many areas, especially rural, the state does not provide sufficient education, or any education at all. I don't know how we can expect anything to change if people don't have access to education, and powerful foreign (and some times domestic) agents are actively exploiting the population.
If you believe that wealth should be shared, then why don't you believe in sharing it with people who need it most? The goal of TEP is not to enrich anyone. The students are receiving what I think should be basic human rights, not sums of cash in their bank account.
Framing this effort as a way for people to feel good about themselves is disingenuous. I think you agree that these kids deserve access to education, so why don't we give it to them if we can?
As for the goal, it is to provide education and healthcare to the kids of Ibumila so they can have the tools they need to assess and change the environment around them. I believe this will lead to positive change.
If you have a better idea of how to address issues in Tanzania, I'd love to hear it.
Thanks for your comment.