When I first stumbled upon the posters scattered around Sexton Commons that promoted the “Somalia Benefit Concert”, I must confess: they made me tremble. The marginal status already assigned to African problems – the continent is, after all, caricatured in shadowy, fatalistic terms – has had a chilling effect on aid and investment over the past few years.
Africa, in many ways, has become a sad fact or “reality” we have accepted even as its citizens blossom with creative potential in spite of corrupt regimes. It made me grimace when I saw Campus Ministry’s posters depicting dollar signs falling on a figure with an umbrella – more specifically, calling on us as students to “make it rain” on Somalia. Abhorrent connotations of “make it rain” aside, if there is anything to be learned from the effects of foreign aid on Africa over the last couple decades, it is this: throwing money at problems usually does not help. It often exacerbates them. Good intentions are often funneled through the wrong channels, i.e., corrupt governments. Billions of dollars do not usually make it to citizens and are instead used to bolster autocratic, unresponsive and undemocratic regimes. Dambisa Moyo chronicles the history of foreign aid and its detrimental effects on African development. Simply put, $1 trillion of generosity has not exactly brought about democratic institutions or well-functioning economies to Africa. She instead calls for greater investment, trade and interaction with African countries on the west coast. Do not just donate – change your study abroad destination.
However, the famine in the Horn of Africa - specifically Somalia - is different.
Aid is indisputably important for catastrophes, and I certainly do think that Campus Ministry and related efforts to raise funds for the famine in Somalia are notable, as well as necessary.
This may sound confusing after the previous angry paragraph. My prescription to Campus Ministry (and all clubs) is this: when you host a charity event and advertise for it, explain to students 1) which organization the money will be committed to, 2) why it is in the interest of informed, morally conscious students to donate, and 3) information about the crisis at hand. Too much for a poster? Send it in an e-mail.
Out of context, seeing dollar signs next to the name of a collapsed country is very confusing. Even international media has been slow to give adequate attention and discussion to the famine in Somalia, so many students may be uninformed. The terrorist organization Al-Shabab has a violent grip over various regions in Somalia and has made every attempt to block and ban the efforts of aid organizations (they just banned the Red Cross this week). Because the central transitional government is weak, nearly 20 independent mini-states have emerged, which makes coordinating relief efforts even more difficult, on top of Al-Shabab’s hostility. However, this also makes these aid efforts all the more necessary.
A wide consensus that the international community has been too slow to respond to the famine in Somalia, and the problem of reaching the afflicted populations is emerging. Current estimates put the death toll at 100,000 lives. Oxfam’s report on the famine issued a scathing critique of aid agencies and donors that waited too long to act. Millions of dollars that could have been previously devoted to preventive measures will now be insufficient for the costly, inefficient, but imperative operations that must follow with the current disaster in full-swing. These dollars are still needed, even more than before. I was happy and relieved to see (and attend) an event on campus that looked to donate money to a cause that has been overlooked.
In fact, Campus Ministry raised $600 for Catholic Relief Services. That generosity will not be put to waste.
What should we learn from the crisis and the late, insufficient response to it? Where emergencies and humanitarian disasters are concerned, foreign aid and donor agencies are essential. Donate. We must also remember however, as students at a liberal arts college and as future policymakers and voters, that preventive measures and long-term engagement are a must, if we are to eradicate poverty and starvation. Africa still occupies that deeply unfortunate position in the Western mindset where we pay attention to the continent’s problems only when they erupt in catastrophe. It seems as if its prospects for development are perceived to be lost, as if the picture will always be gloomy and narrated in depressing journalistic accounts. But that is not the case. Africa will emerge in the global economy with creative engagement, not cash flows. Travel there %u2014 they have great people and great beaches.