Creative Writing Prompt: Grace Kinner

Grace Kinner 

ANR 286

Dr. Mary Parr

Prompt: How have NGOs and aid organizations impacted the trajectory of agricultural practices on the African continent?

                As I stepped off the plane and felt the heat hit my face, I knew that I had made the right decision. After months of soul-searching and wondering if I should apply for a position that would take me halfway around the world, I could feel the rightness of the choice radiating under my skin. The hot April sun beating down on the brim of my hat, I squinted, searching among the sea of faces to find the driver that had been sent for me. As I scanned the crowd of people waiting to greet their loved ones, I heard a name cry out “Ms. Morgan! Ms. Morgan!” I turned around and saw a friendly looking man approaching me. As he approached he said my name again, this time in a questioning tone, to confirm that I was who he was in search of. “Hello, nice to meet you!” I exclaimed in a probably too excited tone. “Hello, Ms. Morgan. My name is Oumar. Welcome to Bamako. I’m here to take you to the Global Partners for Change office.” As he helped me carry my bags to his car, we chatted about where I was from and how I felt about being in Mali.

                My first week working with GPC went by in a flash. It was mostly just spent doing introductions to members of the team I would be working on, meetings with community members involved with the organization, and lots of trainings on the particulars that my newly found work environment would entail. The organization that I had come to Bamako to work for largely focused on encouraging community development and economic entrepreneurship through the implementation of public programs and the drafting of policies pushed for by community members themselves. The main area of concern revolves around the agricultural sector and alleviating the hardships that many other aid organizations have either knowingly or unknowingly placed onto the lives of those who live in the surrounding areas. These programs are important because, as I learned through previously held positions and my educational background, many of the charities and aid organizations that simply give away things to the ‘poor people in Africa’ have no real concept of the damage that their good-hearted actions can have on the local economies in the regions that their donations are sent to.

The evening before my second week of work was to begin, I spent most of the night reminiscing on what all led me to this point in my life, thinking back on the years I had spent as a child believing that by simply giving food or clothes or any number of other goods to people in need that the things that were wrong with the world would be alleviated. This is what a lot of communities push for. We’re taught that it is a good way to help people who aren’t as fortunate at us, but what we aren’t taught is that there are lasting repercussions to this mentality. I now recognize the flaws within this and the paternalism that I had subconsciously learned through my community’s perception of how to give. Growing in my understanding of this issue is a big chunk of why I chose the line of work that I did, in order to work to rectify some of these problems that I could see within the foreign aid industry.

I fell asleep on the futon provided for me in the home of a coworker, where I was staying as I awaited my more permanent work assignment. I woke to the sun streaming across my face through the slats of the blinds the next morning. As I brushed my teeth and washed my face, I began anticipating the meeting I was to have later with a potential project leader. It wasn’t a far walk to the office building, and as I made my way through the front door I noticed a woman standing near the meeting room. I assumed that she was the project leader I would be speaking with, and that assumption proved correct. She was a young woman, but the heaviness in her dark brown, hooded eyes made her seem far older, far wiser than her youth revealed. “Hello Ms. Morgan, my name is Mariam Doumbia.” After we exchanged pleasantries, and I asked her to call me Leah, she welcomed me to sit next to her. She told me that she had lived in a small town outside of Bamako all her life and that she had worked with Global Partners for Change for quite some time. After some small talk, she said to me “I had hoped to share a bit of my story, and the story that is common throughout much of Africa, with you today before moving onto what your position with us will be.”

“I grew up not too far from here and was the youngest of five children.” She began. “My parents both worked very hard to feed us and keep us well clothed. Unfortunately, this wasn’t always an easy task. When famines hit our region at least five years before I was born many many groups and charities came here to help take care of those who were unable to take care of themselves. It was good of them to come and help those who were struggling, but years and years after the famine was over, they were still here. They are still here. They give away food and clothing, disrupting our local economies, all the while portraying themselves as do-gooders. Their continuous supply of ‘help’ has caused many hardships on this community. Tell me, have you ever known anyone, friends or family or neighbors, who have grown rich by being given charity? How can we expect to grow when we are constantly being given handouts?” Of course, I didn’t have an answer for this other than an affirmation of what she was saying.

As she began to get into the fine details about the way that the NGOs impacted her community, I could feel the fire in the words she spoke. Her voice didn’t quiver or crack, but grew stronger as she delved deeper into what had happened to her people, to her community, and communities like her all throughout the country and the continent. “They create dependency within our countries, and within our communities. The food that they give away for free does not come from the hands of our farmers, but the hands of Americans and Europeans whose governments requires their corn and their rice and their soy to be used in the aid they provide. The tons of food products that are being shipped here and sold or given to our hungry people for low costs create excess supply, which makes everything much much cheaper. They also do this through the mountains of secondhand clothing that get dropped at our feet. When there are free clothes as far as the eye can see, what motivation do you think farmers have to grow our cotton? What motivation do seamstresses and tailors have to make clothing to sell? There is no market for them. All of this hurts our farmers and our workers, who cannot make enough money on the crops they are trying to sell or the products they are trying to make. They are taking away money from the hands of the ones who raise our crops and make our goods by doing this, and it is hurting our potential for economic growth.”

Her words resonated with me, reiterating ideas that I had read about in theories books, but never witnessed firsthand. Never felt the weight of their meaning sink to the pit of my stomach as I heard from someone who lived this experience. As we moved on to talking about what my role would be in all of this, Mariam spoke about some work that she needed help with, work that she could teach me how to do. This was important to me, the way that it was presented I mean. She would be the one in charge, along with voices from others within the community, and I would use the skills I had to make sure what they wanted came to fruition. The goal of the program that she hoped to implement would create regulations on a governmental level that limited the food imports from foreign aid entities, while also putting incentives in place for people to purchase food and clothing products from local vendors. My role in all of this will be drafting the policies, which each member of the program will review to reach a consensus. My role would strictly be to provide a service to the people leading the program, the people directly impacted by these issues. That’s the way it should be.

Months after I first met with Mariam our conversation continued to reverberate within my mind. One thing she said in particular really stuck with me, and I think that it is something that more people who wish to do aid work should consider. It is this: “Having a heart for the poor isn’t hard, but having a mind for the poor. That’s the challenge.”

Works Cited:

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Griffin-Angus, Mariah. "Why Sending Your Old Clothes to Africa Doesn't Help." HuffPost Canada. The

                Huffington Post, 25 Aug. 2012. Web. 01 May 2017. 

Hoffman, Stocky. "Food Aid Does NOT Help Africa: It IS the Problem." The African Economist, 25 Jan.

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Hughes, Dana. "U.S. Food Aid Contributing to Africa's Hunger?" ABC News. ABC News Network, 29 Oct.

                2009. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.

Swanson, Ana. "Does Foreign Aid Always Help the Poor?" World Economic Forum, 23 Oct. 2015. Web. 01

                May 2017

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