Would you Donate?

We are in Lira at the moment and will be heading to Gulu and Lamwo in the next few days to meet people who are doing amazing things here to help the community rebuild, still, after the war. The war ended in 2008 but people are still recovering and trying to get their lives back on track.

The area we are in at the moment was harder hit than Gulu but as Gulu was easier to reach, the international community set up camp there with the idea that aid would be distributed from there. Speak to the locals here and the aid never left the Gulu area. They are rebuilding without having received aid during the war or after.

The atrocities committed here are beyond comprehension. There are large tombstones scattered along the side of the road to mark locations of massacres and mass graves. In Barlonyo, there is an official memorial at a massacre site where Kony killed 300 people. He chopped off their heads and hands then boiled them in soup and forced the children and other villagers to eat them. Those types of atrocities. And it went on for over 20 years.

So how can I not be incredulous and angered when I hear that the major funder is pulling funding for the mental health outreach centre, Centre for Children in Vulnerable Situations, because their donors can't see the effect of their money? You can't show a mind normalizing and getting on with living. If you take a picture, you see a child or youth (or adult because they work with all ages) sitting in an office with an adult. That doesn't bring donor dollars.

But what about the story of the three young girls who were abducted during the war but are now home with their family but who think the mother, the grandfather, or the grandmother is trying to curse them through witchcraft or sending their spirit to traumatize them during their sleep. They are so convinced of this that they are plotting to kill them. After speaking with the mental health social workers at CCVS, they realize that they are suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and that it was "normal" what they were going through. Now they are having fewer nightmares and are talking to the other members of their community who are suffering from the same issues to help them realize that they need to talk and come to a level of normalization.

But you can't photograph that. So donors don't give. But look at how much we spend on counseling and therapy and trying to make ourselves happy. Why do we value it for ourselves but see no value for others?

Same organization but now the psychologist is trying to set up a program to give the children a chance to play. He has lined up experts who will come from Kampala to train the teachers and community members of various sports so that they can teach the children to pay volleyball, cricket, baseball, football, etc. He needs equipment. No problem. Everyone loves to pay for balls and nets. He has boxes of equipment.

No-one will pay for the experts to come. They are not asking for payment, they just need transport cost from Kampala, accommodation and food. About 100,000 ($50) a day. But who can boast "I payed for a bus ticket for someone to teach kids to play volleyball?" No-one wants to pay transport cost. Food and accommodation are seen as administrative costs and are poo-pooed. But how can such programs run without someone coming to run them?

How much do we pay for sporting equipment? Teams? Leagues? Coaches? Lessons? Why can't kids who have held machetes and guns get the chance to learn to play properly too? Yes they can kick around a ball made of plastic bags but don't they deserve better?

And now let's move to Barlonyo. This is where the massacre took place. We visited an awesome training centre there (more blogging about that to come) that is becoming self sufficient through poultry, pigs, fish and pineapples. Bree asked if they had problems with theft.

"Of course. But donors don't like to donate to build a fence."

Why the hell not? Do we not build fences around our property to keep things and animals in and others out? Why should we not allow them to protect their own property as well?

Twice, from two different organizations, I have heard today "donors don't like to donate to that."

Why can't we, as donors, give donations that aren't specific? Why can't we say: I'd love to buy a goat but if the is something more pressing, I trust you to use the money in the most effective way possible. Charities are answerable to the CRA so the money has to be well spent. Why does it have to be spent the way people who haven't travelled or seen feel it would be best?

So my question to you is this: If our charity became a 'please donate and trust us to spend the money in the best way possible within the mandate of sustainability, education and empowerment,' would you donate?

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