When Helping Hurts
'When Helping Hurts' by Steve Corbett. Who wants to join me on an email book club to explore helping/hurting principles?
Tuesday, 22 January 2013
On laptops and internet cafes
9 Days to go!
When Helping Hurts
Please pray for the gathering/packing of everything we're taking down($25-40) per suitcase being mindful of development principals-- If we bring things down to give away for free, are we hurting the local shop owners by taking away their business? If we give away our laptops that we're bringing down, will we put the local internet cafe in Esperanza out of business? Will our well intentioned generosity hurt the locals? I'm reading
'When Helping Hurts' by Steve Corbett. Who wants to join me on an email book club to explore helping/hurting principles?
When Helping Hurts
'When Helping Hurts' by Steve Corbett. Who wants to join me on an email book club to explore helping/hurting principles?
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Handouts can engender dependency and also create conflict (jealousy) amongst the villagers, for sure. Some things to explore - does the local internet cafe need more laptops and would that be a good way to help - increasing the local internet cafe's capacity? Or what about donating them to or through the school?
ReplyDeleteCan the poorest of the poor even buy from the shops in the first place? On the other hand, will they resell what they're given to get something else? Can you give things to the shop owners if they agree to sell them more cheaply than usual (maybe in consignments so you can monitor, if you don't know them well enough)?
ReplyDeleteLet me know about the book club - I'm reading "Opening to God" right now, but I shouldn't let that prevent me from leaving openings to God. :-)