Embracing philanthropic culture in Africa

PROMOTING PHILANTHROPIC CULTURE IN THE GRASSROOTS

Many African nations celebrate years of independence. Candidly speaking, out of 54 states only south Sudan can rightly claim to be a toddler in self rule and development having that it acquired its self rule this year, 2011. It is an amazing fact that some nations in Africa got independence at the same time or way before some countries in middle east which are now classified as second world and are quite developed. A good example is Indonesia and Malaysia which got their independence almost at the same period as Kenya. Amazingly Kenya and Malaysia has no comparison in their economy and the people’s life style. Kenya is characterized by hunger and cultural intolerance while Malaysia is posed as a developing economy and democracy. The current status of the two differs like day and night or life and death.

With this said one will wonder where I am getting with this, well, here I tell you, despite the many years of self rule, African nations remain very backward, and we have embraced a begging culture instead of promoting a philanthropic culture like the west and Asian nations. Africa like all other continents has its share of problems from HIV/Aids, poverty, corruption, illiteracy and since this list can fill a whole volume let me say etc. All continents have problems but it is how they respond to their problems that matters. Even USA and China, the biggest economies in the planet have their share of problems.

I was amazed to see Japan receiving donations when she was hit by calamities; however this opened my eyes to reckon that all people despite where they are have issues. To point a few America has a huge problem of hurricanes, health care and many more. Actually when I googled the problems that face USA today I was shocked by a list of problems including illiteracy, ignorance, inadequate employment etc. I learnt that these were problems also experienced by many European countries and yes, some of the problems are very identical to African problems though the scope may differ. The difference is the way people respond to local issues. There are many local initiatives in these countries that operate effectively dependent of local people support and with minimal government support or no at all. This is made possible because people embraced philanthropic culture; unlike here people in the west do not keep what they do not use unless they are antiques. They have gone further to have websites that list give away stuff.

I have over 8 years of experience in social work, I claim to be philanthropist but I leave the world to judge me. In these years I have learnt that what hampers the progress of local initiatives is lack of local support. People in Africa just do not give. The poverty mentality has enslaved us to the point that even the rich do not give, even what they do not use. It is only in Africa that people do not even dispose what is no longer in use. In many homes you will stumble upon closets filled with clothes that are never worn and in the same neighbourhood children and women walking half naked.

Many claim to have no money and this is truly understandable because of poverty but still if you call people to come out for communal work the turn up is always wanting unless there are incentives or handouts. Is it not expected that if one can not give money they one can contribute their time for the good of others and nature?

We have a Christmas gift program where we provoke the local community to give donation to show love during Christmas even as Christ loved the world. When analyzing the donations collected ready for distribution we were shocked by what some people gave. Either they mistook our team with garbage collectors or were driven by sheer selfishness, to our amazement some just choose what to dispose, there were some giving old patched clothes even undergarments and string tied women bra. We therefore had extra work selecting what to distribute and what to burn.

It has become a culture now when wherever there is a problem a blame finger is pointed at the government. The truth is, the government can not do everything. The government will clean the towns but not your backyard; the government will plant trees in public places but not in your private land. As a matter of fact our government has done so much, if I am asked to speak for Kenyan government which I know well of, I would rate them above par but it is the people who do not complement the government’s efforts.

The western community has embraced the philanthropic culture such that people own up and support local initiatives with great zeal. When I point out this fact locally, people are fast to say that mismanagement of resources here prevent people from giving and hence I pose the question, how can you mismanage something that is not even there in the first place?

In one of our fundraising ventures, we featured a project on Global giving, an international online fundraising platform. We were seeking funds to give poor girls sanitary towels and undergarments as well as provide school uniforms to children affected by HIV/Aids. Despite the fact that we publicized this project both locally and abroad we did not get a dime in donations from the local community from whole of Kenya and Africa. Amazingly our project was embraced and supported by the west especially USA. Shockingly many who donated do not even know our initiative and many of them are what one would term as a normal citizen far from being rich or self sufficient yet with a heart of sharing. Many gave as little as 10 $ which meant a lot to our initiative. We have many rich and good careered people here who could afford to donate but choose not to.

People talk of changing the world to make it a better place but the truth is, you can not change the world as a whole only in bits beginning from where you are. As Africans and as a people, we need to redeem our selves from being the icons of problems, it is sad that when many world relief agencies want to depict a problematic situation they draw or put a picture of a black emaciated African as if there are no similar problems elsewhere.

I am writing this passionately to my beloved continent, brothers and sisters, we have to embrace local problems, support local initiatives and join hands in seeking local solutions to local problems. We can no longer fold hand for people from USA, Europe, China or Japan to come and feed our hungry, plant tress in our catchment areas, take care of our orphans and sweep our backyards.

One doesn’t have to be rich to give, it takes the heart. If one does not have money one can give material donations like clothing, books, farm produce, etc. One can also give time and expertise and even volunteer online for many tasks that professionals can execute via the internet like web development, design, fundraising, blogging and publicity the list is endless. All in all we need to embrace a philanthropic culture if we are to ‘make sense’ in the face of the world and God.

Author:

James N. Waruiru
Project Coordinator/Secretary to the Board
Fountain of Hope Youth Initiative Group
http://www.fohlc.org
+254 721 445295 (mobile)
+254 770 056733 (office)
+254 41 2002718 (office)
Skype id: james.waruiru

© FOHLC 2011