EDITOR,

THE other day, while I was attending a friend’s party I began having a conversation with one of the guests. This guest told me that she was part of a Non-Government Organisation that helped street kids deal with psychological trauma by giving them music instruments.

She was extremely passionate about her work but all it left me was a bad taste in my mouth.

Here was someone with no medical or psychiatry background applying theories and practices that could be called ludicrous. And the worst thing is that she was practising this hogwash on vulnerable children who needed real tangible support.

I think that this is just one instance of NGO’s doing nothing at all, or even doing actual harm.
Looking at the entire NGO ‘business’, which it really is, I have come to realise that we, the poor and underdeveloped, are simply a resource that is tapped into.

One finds totally unqualified people doing jobs that locals could do better and with faster results. These unqualified people end up being paid thousands of dollars and cause local inflation. For example, if there weren’t so many people working in the ‘aid’ industry, would rent be so high here in Kigali? I doubt it.

These people have no desire to find real solutions because then they wouldn’t have jobs anymore. The aid industry is a billion dollar industry and I think that it is something that we must wean ourselves off of.

I am happy that our President is one of the few African leaders calling for trade, not aid. Trade pulls people out of poverty; aid, on the other hand, makes paupers out of all of us.

Sam Rwego
Kimihurura