The New Times reported yesterday that 65,000 children across the country are set to benefit from a shoe distribution programme by ADRA, a faith-based US organisation. Some NGOs, especially those that have earned the ‘corporate’ credentials, have over the years devised means to remain in business. The most common is to attract sympathy and whip up emotions from donors by painting a bleak picture of the beneficiaries of services and the urgent need to help them. People behind most NGOs are driven by a noble cause to help mankind, but quite a number have ulterior motives: some might be financial while others might be aiming to peddle influence by virtue of their carefully crafted notoriety. But do we really need some of the help. Is it beyond our capacity to solve some of our domestic issues? An American NGO arrives with thousands of shoes to be distributed to school children. The PR wagon goes into top gear and the media is conscripted to highlight the event, While the NGO and its partners have good intentions, the shoe project raises some very troubling questions. Aren’t we losing our self worth (Agaciro) if a foreigner comes to cover our children’s feet? This is one of the few countries where programmes you will hardly find bare footed people. The image of kids lining up to receive the presents excitedly as any child would and the endless thank you speeches from our local authorities sends a different message. It is time we stopped being a raison d’être and laboratory for demeaning programmes. If we can raise billions for Agaciro fund, build thousands of schools with our bare hands, can we fail to shell out more to replenish the shoe cupboards in our schools?
