This is an interesting and serious issue. There are about a dozen different opinions on if the money we donate to foriegn aid actually accopmplishes any good. While I do belive that education is a good thing, And the more educated a population is the better off they will be in general. I have no idea how the monies we donate actually get to the people it is intended for. I do know that in some specifc cases though such as food aid, the aid given is sometimes acutally detrimental. For example, Somailia. When the UN started dumping mass amounts of free food into the country to help out, one of the unintended side effects off this sudden influx of very cheap or free food was that quite a few local farmers and local food markets went out of business. You just can't compete in a marketplace when the competition is giving the product away. Now more than a few of these displaced folks were the entreprenurial bussiness class. Deprived of their original lively hood they looked for something else to feed their families. So, groups of former fishermen, and former businessmen discovered an easy source of cash to support themselves. The got together and became pirates. The point is, that bandaid type solutions don't work in the long run, and working solutions that will fix the problems long term are dependent on local governments being stable and not corrput.
So what started out as a well intentioned attempt to help out, created a new and different problem with no easy solution. A part of this problem I think, is the mindset of Oh, let me give you stuff, instead of oh let me show you how to run a successful sustainable agrobusiness. Part of that is that the US in particular really doen't know how to run a low to no input small scale farm any more. At least not on the level of government or the large agro businesses that control the food industry here in the US. And those that do know how to do such things are busy doing just that to feed their own families here. Often times at odds with the government and those same large companies.
I can see where the problems are, I just have no idea how to repair the problems with the system. Personally I only donate to causes that work in my local community. For local people, with local problems so that I know my money is going to try to help the comunity I live in. The world is a huge place, with many many people and problems that I just can't fix. I can however work to improve things in my little corner of the world. We have a lot of undereducated, poor, hungry foks right here for me to try to help out.
I know, it just looked like you were speaking to government dollars, to which I totally agree with you. Personally, I would love to see the world educated and functioning above poverty level. We can't even do that here!!! I should be a Miss USA contestant. I want World Peace. Bats lashes.
