Every time I get into a conversation with anyone here in Kigali, I come away saying ‘wow’. I’m pretty sure every person I’ve spoken to so far has been supporting some sort of amazing cause or has started an organization of their own or are working in a job doing positive work for way less than they’d be able to earn at home. I have to say that I always feel a bit awkward when the ‘what are you doing here in Kigali?’ question comes up. My reply ‘um, I’m travelling in Africa and I stopped to, uh, work on my business building websites’ always sounds really lame in comparison.
One American girl I met is due to finish up her one year placement with World Teach in October and has decided to stick around afterward to work towards raising $60,000 to build a library in the rural community she had been working in. Another has started her own scholarship fund for Rwandan girls who otherwise couldn’t have afforded to go to school, raising money in her hometown in the US and also here in Kigali through some creative means. Then there’s the lady who works for As We Forgive (an NGO working towards reconciliation among victims and perpetrators of the genocide) seemingly in every possible role from public speaking to fund raising to training to organizing reconciliation workshops in the countryside. Or Meg, the Brit who started a school on her own that is currently educating 200 students who might otherwise not be able to go to school. Even my housemate, a former lawyer in the UK, is working as the manager of a school build for a non-profit agency when he could likely be back at home earning ten times the wage he’s currently on.
Then of course there are the countless Rwandans working hard at helping their own country. Jeanne (herself a victim of the genocide) started the Tubahumurize Association (I’m working on building them a website now) after a friend of hers was murdered by her husband. The centre holds counseling sessions for 300 women who are victims of domestic abuse, the genocide, rape, or have HIV (many suffer from more than one of these issues). It has grown to include classes on various subjects from economics to English to general health, a co-op producing quilts and necklaces, a sewing class for children who are heads of their household, a lunch program, and a community garden. This is a great cause aimed at helping some of the most vulnerable women in Rwanda (possibly the world) and I’m inspired by her efforts, despite all of the obstacles she faces in raising funds for her program.
Coming in direct contact with people working for so many great causes got me thinking about the way people donate money. I like to think that lots of people give to charity but I wonder how many put much thought into which charity they choose. My hunch is that most people give their money to the biggest players who probably pop into their head first when the time comes to make a donation. Often people are compelled to make charitable donations after major natural disasters and the Red Cross is where most of these funds go.
There are so many small organizations all over the world in desperate need of funds to run their programs. Donations to small organizations, I feel, go a lot farther with fewer admin fees and zero marketing budget to fund. I feel like if donors took some time to research where they spend their money, they could have more of an impact and could also even develop a personal relationship with the people running the program. Instead of your money going into a black hole of admin fees, your donation (or funds you raise) could feed 20 kids for a week, expand a micro-lending program to include more people, or even buy a new NGO a website. Spending your money on smaller-scale operations is more likely to result in tangible ‘this is where your money went’ results.
I’m curious about how you guys give. Do you research places to donate money or give to the major aid groups? Most of my charitable donations go either to friends doing fund raising (often running marathons for cancer charities although the charity is less important than supporting my friends) or to HODR because I know first-hand how the money is spent and how far it’ll go. So I’ve never taken an active role in searching out places to donate my money but I think I will in the future.
I’ve been here for about five weeks and I’m slowly getting involved in a few projects. I’m asked almost every day for advice on web stuff and I’ve been offered jobs weekly. I wish I could pop out WordPress sites without wanting to pull my hair out and chuck my computer in the toilet but, unfortunately, I find tweaking themes to be one of the most frustrating things of all time. I have, however, become a bit of a WordPress evangelist because of the ease of updating the site by people who might not know a thing about websites. I’m working at learning more about WordPress (at the risk of a wet laptop) but it’s a slow process. At any rate, it’s opened my eyes to how valuable WordPress design skills are and I want to keep learning. It also makes a great way to engage in a bit of location independent volunteering!
So far I’m really loving it here in Kigali. I admit that I’m trapped in the expat bubble, something I wanted to avoid. But I am getting a load of work done and still managing to get involved in some good causes so, for the moment, I’m ok with that (said as I order another iced mocha).
I agree that it’s much better to donate to smaller charities. I used to donate to Oxfam, but then I read about how big charities waste so much money and I saw signs of it in the constant mailouts, and sending out pens and christmas cards that I didn’t want.
I switched to a small local charity that supported asylum seekers and refugees living with HIV. I knew people who had benefited from their services so I felt confident that the money was going to a good cause. I must admit though that now we are travelling and are not in a financially secure position I don’t donate money regularly.
We need both, the small local charities and the big boys, even if much money gets wasted. There are huge problems and huge disasters that need massive imput fast (even if it can never be as fast as we want) and small charities can’t deal with huge instant crises.
Having lived overseas in poor countries for years, I am certainly a fan of small charities because as an individual donor I can “see” where my money goes. There is satisfaction in that. Cmall charities do great work for a limited number of people.
What to do to help and support thousands of people in acute and instant crises?
I am also still convinced we need to support the Red Cross, Habitat, Heifer International, World Vision and so on. Of course we need to be informed about their management and take the time to look at their performance etc., but they are needed.
So, for me, I support both, the big and the small.
This is a great post. I love hearing stories like these from travels. Although you talk about a lot of ex-pats, as many folk reading this will know it’s often the people with the least that will give the most.
I’ve been in other areas in desperate need in the past, in particular one of the ‘war zones’ and there were a lot of people doing some great work there – similar people to who you mention – e.g. Harvard lecturers going to assist with reintroducing local traditional techniques that were cost effective for locals rather than just imposing the western way.
I did however come away with the sense that some people there in other organisations were there to run their little pet projects to see if they’d work out, but regardless it would contribute to their PHD in Athropology or the like which I sometimes found a little bit patronising. However, luckily no-one in the organisation I was visiting was like that.
Anyway, I digress…..your stories were a great read and sounds like you have a lot of inspiring people around you – I’ve been in a similar boat myself then had to leave to go back to my cosy little life.
I like to give through my employer. They have a Combined Federal Campaign every year and I get to choose one or more charities to send my donations to. I look for the organizations that have the lowest overhead. I also like to support cancer research. This year when the campaign starts, I want to see if HODR is on the list, as well as some of the children’s hospitals. Last year I gave half of my donation to the Red Cross because of all the good work they do. We had a fire storm here (quite a few years ago) that burned thousands of homes and I volunteered to help place sandbags to prevent the heavy soil erosion that follows a major fire. The Red Cross was there to feed the volunteers and make sure we had water and restrooms.
It’s great that there are so many people from rich countries helping the poor via NGO routes but people should also realise that not all NGOs are doing good.
In some cases only a small percentage of money raised go to people in need, that a lot goes to recover costs, and some have even been used to pay very high salaries of the people at the top of these organisations.
I have experienced this myself to some extent in Cambodia of all places where the NGO body concerned used funds to build extravagant buildings for their volunteers and a certain person in charge was using a volunteer for their own business interests, rather than the charity!
Don’t mean to be negative but I think it is worth pointing out that not all NGO people and their affiliates are kosher and in many cases they simply exploit their own holier-than-thou position for their own means.
Bad NGOs, of course, are usually immune to any criticism because they are seen as only doing good.
I’m just glad that YOU are endorsing WordPress….We know nothing about web/blog development, and are about to start our own site for our own RTW. We plan on using WordPress, and having a competent web-developer endorse it is encouraging. Maybe your next ebook should be WordPress for Dummies!
Five weeks stay in Kigali is a long time to explore the area in some details really. I really liked the point you mentioned about people asking what you were doing in the place because it’s really interesting how the locals would greet the travel type people.
Great post and topic. I used to donate to the big names that had low administrative fees and I’ll still occasionally do this (e.g., Doctors without Borders) if there’s an emergency. But, I’ve lost some of my faith in big agencies as we’ve been traveling – I’ve seen so much waste. I would rather donate my money to small organizations or people we’ve met who are doing amazing work with really. Like you, we also try to help with either getting word out or helping with website design or content.
WordPress is a love/hate relationship. We’re planning to redesign our website soon to another wordpress theme. Love how wordpress allows you to do almost anything…but that can sometimes be a mixed blessing!
it shows people of kigali is simple with good soul, yes some time such question arise in others mind that what people like you doing there but you really doing great over there.
The post showing how simple and down to earth living in Kigali.
Thanks for sharing with me the lifestyle of such great place.
You really have a good heart. I mean, involving in works and causes that helps KIGALI peeps are really a good deed.
Applying your existing skill set does double service because as you learn more about WordPress, you’ll enrich your own business and be able to help out those technically challenged to promote their cause online. That’s a wonderful way to give of yourself.
For years I’ve been using a website called Chraity Navigator to research charities before I give to them. The corruption in smaller foreign-aid type charities is very rampant in the industry. However, Rwanda has a lot of reputable agencies that are helping so you are in the right place to find the blogging topics you need.