The Development Struggle

We know humanity has failed; has the humanitarian ‘industry’ also failed?

Today I attended Catholic Mass in Ifakara, south central Tanzania. The congregation was huge and the church was full with many at standing at the back of the hall for the entire 2 hour service. I noted how many young, enthusiastic and vibrant people attended the mass in contrast to the services I have attended at home in London. Young people made up a huge portion of the congregation; is this because of the level of community spirit that exists? The shear poverty that people are in that means church is the only hope? Or is it that most of the population don’t make it to be old enough to be considered old? Probably it is all three.

We attended mass today as a group of 10 from all different faiths - Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Sikh and Theists; our message a simple yet complicated one. People of different faiths working together for positive social action. This could be anything from campaigning on climate change, promoting Fair Trade or doing something about the global fight on poverty. For us it is trying to achieve the Millennium Development Goals with special attention to the eradication of deaths caused due to Malaria.

I feel the locals here in Ifakara are not familiar with the idea of faiths working together and hope at some level we have at least inspired them to ponder on the concept.

After mass the Faiths Act Fellows were invited to take stage and talk to young people for what I think is the Sunday school. We introduced ourselves and took questions on our educational backgrounds and the type of schooling system we have in the UK. We also discussed how Tanzania is a great country because the people have spiritual and religious freedom and have the right to practise whichever faith they feel is their calling.

A 15 year old boy stood up and very confidently walked up to the microphone and asked us ‘Why are you in Tanzania? What are you doing here? We have a big problem of HIV/AIDS in Africa; what are you doing about it? The Father of the church took it upon himself to answer the question. I do not know what he said because he replied in Swahili.

This makes me think that we as Development Workers have failed in our jobs, our lives and in our dedication to the victory in the global fight on poverty. You see, that 15 year old boy demonstrated to us how dependent Africa feels on the West. Walking around Ifakara it is clear that we are not from around here and are foreign. We are 8 hours away from Dar es Salaam the capital and any form of tourism. Therefore the general feeling amongst locals here is we must be here to deliver aid and a solution to their problems.

I am a big believer in dignity not poverty and the world needs to wake up to the idea that food and aid distribution is not the answer. We need to understand that the solution to Africa’s problems is in Africa and will come from Africa. We need to push the idea of empowerment of individuals and communities so that they can be self sufficient.

The Ifakara health institute is pioneering in this in many respects. They use real African communities and African doctors to lead life changing research in Malaria, Aids and tropical diseases. They do this by empowering communities to protect themselves safely and effectively.

In many ways EMPOWERMENT is the world of the day for me. This is why the more of the developing world I see the more I feel that micro finance projects are the future in poverty reduction. To empower a woman to start and run a dry fish business in Cambodia so that she can sustain her family and then repay her micro loan so a loan can be given to another family so they can start their own venture is testament of community empowerment that elevates entire districts out of poverty’s vicious cycle and takes away the dependence on the western world. I truly hope that when I visit these very remarkable countries in the future, it will be because of cultural exchange, beauty and to learn not to be this foreigner who people look at as responsible for delivering aid.

To learn more about the Faiths Act Fellows Program please visit: http://www.tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/projects/faiths-act/fellows/