Have you ever wondered if your charity was doing more harm than good? If you were "being played"? If so, you'll identify with a thoughtful series of articles written by Emily Meehan for Slate two years ago.
While working as an aid worker in the Democratic Republic of Congo Meehan met a remarkably intelligent boy who seemed determined to overcome the many disadvantages thrown his way--and determined that Meehan would help him. Despite her misgivings, Meehan gradually relented, paying for his school fees, a bicycle, and other items. Then, right before she left and after she had just given him a large sum, he reported that the money had been stolen. She recalls: "I realized that I didn't know anything. I didn't know whether Aime was tricking me. I didn't know why he would trick me. I didn't know if anything I have told you about his life was true, and I didn't know if foreign aid works."
Yet Meehan mainitains a blog (African Heroes: Stories of Brave Badasses) in which she urges her readers to donate money to various Africans in need--often for school fees.
Meehan shows us how difficult and yet necessary it is to try to help those less privileged than ourselves.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/dispatches/features/2010/the_humanitarians_dilemma/meet_aim.html
http://africanheroes.tumblr.com/
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