Teach a Man to Fish

Teach a Man to Fish… By Charlene Luzuk, International Programme Coordinator, ADRA NZ Please imagine the scene; you have just embarked on your first trip to Asia, and your taxi from the Phnom Penh airport in Cambodia has dropped you off outside your hotel. It looks quite different to the brochures you saw when you picked it, but as you gaze around you cant see any better looking ones around. As you step out of the taxi, you feel the wave of heat roll over your body, and you stop and think, wow!! If this is what its like all the time, I think I’ll overheat and die! As your forehead starts to gather beads of sweat, you check in to your hotel. Your room is simple, but it has an air conditioner! Putting your bags under your bed and taking anything worth of value with you, you wander out of your hotel with your trusty Lonely Planet Guide book and head for the nearest markets, not even attempting to pronounce the name. The air is dusty, and as you are looking up at the sky, listening to the drone of countless motorbikes zooming by, close enough to touch, your foot knocks into something and you stumble. Looking down, you are shocked to see that you have walked into a crippled man on the pavement. He is looking at you with his head at a peculiar angle, and he holds out a dirty cup with a few small crumpled notes in it. You continue to look at his body, avoiding his gaze and you see that his legs are, well, how can you say, one is twisted up behind his lower back, and the other one is half formed and supporting his body, folded in front of him. The sight is rather disturbing, and after all of these thoughts and images pass through your mind in a split second, you say your sorry and walk away hurriedly. As you continue to walk, your conscience begins relentlessly nagging you saying ‘Do something! Stop and go back and help the man! Give him some money!’ but you feel so uncomfortable and don’t know what to do. Someone must look after him though, you try to reason with yourself, I have heard about beggars begging because its good money, and its actually their job and they work for someone, but what if he is for real? So you stop in your steps, retrace your footsteps and reaching into your bag as you approach him, pour all of your loose change into the mans outstretched cup. You see your packet of chips and you leave those next to him too. Feeling relieved, you walk away, noticing the man didn’t say thank you, but happy that your conscience was quiet. You think about your act of welfare, and how now, because of your actions, that man can eat for a day or two. You gave him hope and help. What a blessing. Now the spanner gets thrown into the works. This illustration (although quite a realistic one) is an example of welfare, but ADRA over the past 20 years has moved away from welfare to focus on development. How can this be? Let’s first distinguish between the two terms; Welfare: Aid in the form of money or necessities for those in need (Merriam- Webster) This sounds like ADRA doesn’t it? Indeed, but have a look at the definition of development: Development: a state in which things are improving; it meets the needs and aspirations of the current generation, without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs. (unisdr.org) Many people think that ADRA’s work involves a lot of going around giving out free things to the poor and needy. Don’t get me wrong, there is a time and a place for that like in emergency relief situations. But welfare, when looking at the bigger picture often does more damage than good. It promotes dependency and can only be short term in impact. Take a look at this amazing Chinese proverb- Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day; Teach a man to fish and he eats for a life time This is exactly what ADRA is about. By teaching a man to fish, instead of just giving a fish to him, he is educated, equipped and skilled to go out and feed himself. This way he is empowered to work and be responsible for his own future, and doesn’t have to stand in line every day, waiting for a fish to eat, he can go and feed his whole family because he has been a part of effective development. In Bangladesh and the Solomon Islands, ADRA NZ has projects which do exactly this. Women are trained to read and write so that they can then manage the family finances, and the loan which they receive to start a business to support their family, leaving them self-supporting, educated and empowered. This could never have been achieved by giving them food every day, because soon enough the funding would run out and they are left exactly as they were found. Throughout the Bible, there are countless texts referring to the poor and how we are to care for them and be welfare driven towards them. It is our duty to help our brothers and sisters when we see that they are in need, so please note that I am not discouraging notions of welfare in our lives, but merely explaining that the most effective way to help lift people out of poverty on the big scale of things is by looking to the long term solution, and the most practical. By concentrating on lifting up a community by development like educating the children and teaching the parents how to farm, the effects trickle down even to the poorest of the poor. So as you continue to support ADRA, know that your money goes to helping people help themselves, changing the world one life at a time.