Thankfulness as a Way of Life

I met a gal from Tanzania yesterday while I was out running errands with the kids. She made a comment about Americans that had great insight. We were talking about sacrificial giving - giving of yourself to the point where it affects your own life, sometimes negatively. I was sharing some stories of sacrificial giving that had moved me to tears. Her comment back was that this type of giving seemed extraordinarily unusual for Americans, that most of us don't get it.

And she is right.

It caused me to ponder the reasons why we don't get this in America. I think it all boils down to one thing that we are missing in our daily lives: thankfulness. My thought is that most of us go through our daily lives not realizing how abundantly blessed we are to live in this nation. I've seen many people come with me to Africa, South America, Asia (it doesn't matter where mostly) and be challenged by the "lack" that they are seeing. Seeing others' lack - and yet also seeing them give sacrificially to their communities and families - creates what I will call a "thankfulness gap" in us. We quickly realize that we don't get it. We aren't thankful everyday. And that daily thankfulness doesn't drive us to give sacrificially of our lives.

Now, I'm not talking about giving financially only. I know plenty of people who give financially - and even a very small handful that give sacrificially financially. I am actually talking about giving of ourselves in such a way that we don't get the credit or recognition. Taking a volunteer opportunity to the next level or reaching out to serve the immigrant family among us - who could never repay that act of kindness. Even just being kind to someone in the grocery store or helping someone on your block in need.

An attitude of daily thankfulness motivates you to serve others sacrificially with a great heart of love. On this Thanksgiving Day, why not start a revolution of thankfulness in your own life? You can decide everyday to "count your blessings", making everyday a thanksgiving day of its own. Don't wait until you go someplace else and see how amazingly rich this place where we live is - recognize that fact today and live differently.

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Why Aid fails to rescue the poor

I read a book about a decade ago that stimulated me to begin thinking in a new way. It was called "Sustainable Primary Health Care" by Anne LaFond. Ms. LaFond was a regional director for Save the Children Fund and had access to mounds of data. She did a study that looked at how health clinics fared if they were governed by locals, versus those governed by outsiders. What she found rocked the aid community and was quite controversial. It seems the clinics governed by locals did far better than those governed by outside experts.

We now call this "sustainable development" and know that it is the goal - for projects to be taken over and run profitably by locals. But it rocked the world then.

I feel the same way about a recent BBC News World Service report regarding aid. It mentions such things as "accountability", "empowerment of local solutions" and "investment" instead of hand-outs. What Africa does not need is what it has been getting" unfettered aid that comes from Western "experts", undermines local producers, increases the value of the local currency making products uncompetitive on the world market, and propping up greedy dictators who refuse to step down from power and have billions in assets in offshore accounts.

So, why does aid fail? Aid, in its purest form, was meant to get someone through a rough spot until they can get to a position of being able to take care of themselves. The only problem is that we've called the last 60 years in Africa a "rough spot" and have continued with the programs that were only meant to last for 10 years. These programs weren't working because of serious corruption, diversion of funds, poor planning and agendas that did not take local needs into account. Aid was a top-down approach, with the top being western experts and the bottom being aid recipients. The system was doomed to failure because it did not give power to the powerless.

Here is a concrete example to chew on: The US sponsors food aid for people in refugee camps through a program run by the World Food Program. The "food" arrives in big bags labeled "AID from the US people" and it is generally a grain, rice or flour of some sort that the refugees then turn into bread or serve as rice. The US gives a farm subsidy to US farmers by purchasing large amounts of this at a higher-than-market price. The farmers don't sell that commodity locally, they get a better price, and people get fed.

Good deal, right? Wrong. Guess who else produces that same grain? Locals nearby the refugee camps. Guess what is done with "extra" or even handed out bags of grain - they go to the local markets, flooding them and reducing the price for local farmers. Guess what that does - worsens the situation and creates animosity between the farmers locally and the people they are hosting. This is why one large US-based nonprofit that works extensively in the refugee camps has decided to refuse all US-based food aid. Their source now for food for the many refugee camps they run is the local markets. CARE says it is cheaper anyway - and it helps to foster acceptance and sympathy among the locals for the refugees.

So, you see, even in a "crisis" situation where people just need to get through a "rough spot" - aid doesn't even work.

Find ILDI on the web!
www.intleader.org