They don’t have anything in Africa, right? Then certainly they would love my (fill in the blank with any ridiculous item you no longer want). I should send it to them straight away!
Perhaps this is what was going through the minds of the people who have donated the following items to the orphanage in the past 6 months:
- used underwear
- half a bar of soap
- sheets of toilet paper in a Ziploc bag
- a homemade sports’ bra
- coloring books that have already been colored in
- Japanese novels, written in Japanese
- torn sheets
- 1 sock
- needles with saline injections
- oven thermometer
It sounds funny, doesn’t it? Maybe when read in the context of my witty blog, but it’s much less funny for the orphanage Director who has to go through it all. Then, left with boxes of rubbish, she must figure out a way to get rid of it. We don’t exactly have a trash service here…
It is absolutely true that “they” do not have very much here in Africa. However, “those poor people” should not serve as dumping ground for crap from the West. Are you helping anyone to preserve his dignity by giving him clothing that is stained or full of holes? Or, are we just trying to make ourselves feel better about the massive amount of stuff we seem to accumulate by oh so charitably giving away some of the things we have tired of? Just something to keep in mind the next time you pack a bag for the Salvation Army or fill a box for bound for Africa.
And since I’ve got your attention, let me vent for a minute about some well wishers who bring us items that we have not requested under the assumption that we can pass them out to people who might be able to use them. Do we know poor people? Yes. Do we think that they might indeed appreciate some of these goods? Sure. However, are we in the business of distributing random donations? No, we’re not. And there is a lot that goes into passing out stuff. First, you have to sort and repack it. Then, you have to figure out a way to transport it all. The hardest part though is determining the best distribution scheme. If you pass it out to some people, the others will complain that they were left out. It’s unfair! We should get something too! Charity is chock full of politics. I’d rather stick to running an orphanage.
Most of these items sound pretty silly however one item on your list might be useful. Just a suggestion…you could give the thermometer to alexander and agatha as they have a wood cook stove. As crazy as it sounds, I was actually looking for an oven thermometer when I was baking with agatha.