African Aid: On the Way to Self-sufficiency or Foreign Dependency?

Have you ever been to a national park where there was a sign against feeding the animals? What is the purpose for those signs? No, they aren't there to be a buzz kill, but they are there to keep the animals from being fed by humans and becoming dependent on humans for food. If that were to happen, the animals would no longer be self-sufficient and they wouldn't work for their food. That might be the case for animals, but is it the same for humans? Let me ask you, if you were getting paid to sit at home and watch TV or crochet would you give that up to go and find a job? Probably not because you are already getting paid to do nothing!

This is what is happening in Africa. Countries like the U.S. are giving financial aid to help break the bond of poverty and, while the intentions are good, this is creating a dependency in Africa. In 2001, the U.S. increased their giving to African Aid to $4.3 billion. This money is given to various African countries and is meant to help the nation become more independent. Besides the dependency issue, political corruption has had a huge impact on what the money is spent on. Some examples of what corrupt politicians spend the money on are: defense ministry, buying luxury vehicles for ministers and meeting the salaries of resident district commissioners. Are these all bad things? No, but there are more important things that this money should go towards such as agricultural research to make Africa more efficient at farming?

The key to this problem is to stop throwing money at Africa expecting things to change. There are only three countries (Uganda, Lesotho and Nigeria) that are ON THE WAY to meeting the goals set up by the U.N. for African countries to become more self-reliant. Out of 53 countries, I would not call this a success story. We need to stop treating them as a charity case and help them become more independent and self-sufficient. We should stop giving money to their governments because that has proven to be ineffective in reaching the people who really need the aid and instead, we should find ways to fund their private sector (temporarily). If Africa could develop a free-market system this would be their best option at breaking the bondage of foreign dependency and they would become more and more independent.

Lastly, we do need to realize that Africa is different than the U.S. just as France is different from the U.S. They have different customs, traditions and lifestyles than us and that is okay. We must not seek to make them more like the U.S. but rather support the things that are, in fact, working in their nation(s). Also, we need to realize that money can only do so much. As Christians, we need to pray for Africa and send our people to be the hands and feet of Jesus to spread the Gospel and fight injustices there. This is where we, as the church, come in. God's people can and will be the most effective difference-maker in Africa.