Learning
Lets start at the top.
I'm 25... That means people older than me tend not to believe I've had much for life experiences but the truth is, I've done a lot! I've worked in, with, or for non-profits pretty much my entire life. My go-to story is about how my mom used to take me to a women's shelter in West Philadelphia when I was just a kid. She volunteered there regularly and would often bring me along to play with the younger kids while she helped their mothers get back on their feet after experiencing abuse, homelessness, or just general poor luck.
So here I was, a six year old "volunteering" to play with other six year olds. Sure, we had different backgrounds, and I knew it at the time... I grew up on a farm and went to private school, these kids didn't. I didn't really know what that meant, just that things were different. Anyway, I would go and play, have a great time with my new friends at the shelter. As far as I knew, that’s what this "volunteering" thing my mom used to always talk about was.
I followed my mom around volunteering wherever she went until I was old enough to start finding my own opportunities. I ran can drives for my school, organized charity related dances, and I was that kid on Halloween walking around with a UNICEF box asking for quarters instead of candy. It wasn't until I was 14 or 15 that I realized what I was doing wasn't really what other kids my age were doing.
First Lesson Learned
Ok, fast forward. I'm 16 now; I've just met this incredible guy from Uganda. His name is David but he goes by Romans. At this point, I knew things weren't so good in Africa but I never really knew much more than that. Everything I had done up to this point had been in Philadelphia, with the exception of a couple Habitat for Humanity type trips to neighboring states. I talked to Romans for a while on his visit to the states. We talked soccer (he likes Liverpool, I like Everton... that didn't go over so well at first), we talked school, and we talked Uganda.
Romans founded a pair of schools in Kampala and Masaka Uganda and more recently has built a clinic in between the cities in a place called Mpigi. He told me about his idea to start a school band... something that would boost school spirit, educate children in the art of music, and he even had plans to book the band for performances so the students could bring home some much needed revenue.
The problem was that buying and shipping instruments to Uganda was extremely costly and not the smartest thing to do. Romans told me that there had been problems with airport attendants and postal workers stealing parcels that looked like they had humanitarian aid, expensive equipment, or anything they could make some money on.
I did some research and found out not only was he right, it was a little worse than just having some malaria pills stolen from baggage claim. Medical supply drops meant for remote villages had been getting stolen and sold or worse, confiscated and used by militant forces. The same with food, agricultural supplies, water filters, textbooks, etc.
Right away I hatched a plan to make my first trip to Uganda. I helped the parent organization supporting Romans gather up instruments and uniforms and packed them up in our bags and... well, without getting into too much detail we basically smuggled a few thousand dollars worth of instruments into Uganda.
I helped hand deliver the instruments and uniforms directly to the students who were waiting for us and it was one of the most eye opening and rewarding experiences of my life. I'll never forget it.
So...
Charity Lesson Learned #1 - It's not always easy to do good in a foreign country. Besides some of the typical blockades created by governments, laws, and policies, you often have to deal with crime, black markets, lack of security, and other more cultural issues. Not every charity knows that. I've seen first hand medical supplies shipped overseas with charitable intention up for sale on the streets of Uganda.
If you want to support an organization that provides supplies and aid to a foreign country, keep that in mind. Here's a simple check - go to the charity's Facebook or wherever they have a collection of images and look to see if there are any pictures of volunteers hand delivering goods in the country they are working in. It’s no guarantee, but a good start.
A little note about my goals for this blog. I want to share my lessons learned in posts like this one while sharing some insight into how I go about choosing the charities that I like to support and why. My goal here is not to get you to support the charities I support, it is to get you to critically think about charity, the ideals we've set for them, and to make your own conclusions. It's time for us to think outside the standards set by Guidestar and Charity Navigator and come up with our own.