Development aid

ODA, which is short for overseas development assistance, is financial and practical aid given by first world country governments, organizations, businesses and individuals to the governments and people of third world countries. The different forms of aid are bilateral (1^st World government → 3^rd world government) and multilateral aid (1^st World government → organization (UNICEF, WHO, …) → 3^rd world country), as well as non-governmental aid (Non-governmental organizations NGOs (Oxfam, DRC)). The top providers of ODA are the US, UK and Germany. The continent of Africa is the top recipient. Some things to criticize are the corruption in the system, the dependence of the 3^rd world countries on the help of the industrial countries.

The thought of ODA is great. Really, who wouldn’t want to help the poor out of the misery and get them to stand on their own feet, living their own lives. I’m sure this was the original idea, but somewhere along the way it went wrong. ODA was plant to last for around ten years until the African, Asian or south American governments would be stable. Now, this “project” has lasted for 60 years and not much has changed. African countries, let’s take Kenya for an example, now rely on the help of their industrial “sponsors”. Whenever you think you’re doing some good by cleaning out your closet and giving away the clothes you don’t need anymore, think again. Those donations are obviously free for the Kenyans who get them. They gratefully accept the offer of being gifted European clothes instead of buying Kenyan clothes. Thus, the textile industry in that country is ruined.

This is not just an example taken out of nowhere, but it has actually happened to Kenya. Their clothing industry is now ruined, dead. We killed it by helping where the help wasn’t needed. In several countries the people have gotten so used to being offered free food that they stopped farming. We shouldn’t help people be comfortable. They should get help in forms of education and guidance, not only food and money, at least not regularly. Maybe the first world countries want to make up for what they did during the colonial time, but they won’t be able to do so by driving Kenya back into dependence. The concept of development aid is great on the surface, but very incomplete and irresolute once you dig a little deeper.

In theory, all of us do something to help the poor simply by paying taxes. Practically there are so many other ways to bring some joy into the lives of the people who need it. One of those honorable people is Elisabeth Gohla, a girl from Schwand in Bezirk Braunau, who decided to step in and do something against poverty and for the life standards of kids in an orphanage in Tansania. After the American agency who had financed the orphanage up till then said that they couldn’t continue the payments, she decided to take the fate of those kids into her own hands. She’s been there, she’s seen what needs to be done and she’s already accomplished a lot. Even though she’s back home now, she still hasn’t given up on the orphanage, and that’s why she is collecting donations for “her” kids back in Tansania. Every cent she collects causes a smile on one of those children’s faces.
Denise Meier, 8O, 2018