Trade, not Aid

I read an interesting TIME article (that was also old, thanks to the waiting room at the doctor’s) whose main premise was that the new way to look at Africa is to do business with them and forget the charity: trade, not aid. Their words.

I haven’t done too much research or thought very hard about this myself, so I can’t say I’m behind the idea, but on some level–and perhaps only in the imaginary world of ideals–it must ring true.

Sometimes, I wonder if those of us who have money, ever think about how the people we are donating money to feel about receiving our charity. There’s a book out there called Dead Aid that speaks about this very issue: aid needs to stop, business is the way to go, and the book has caused a huge wave of support, and quite lot of backlash. But the fact that it has generated such support means something; some Africans, on some level, are tired of being viewed treated as people who must be subject to the charity of other. It’s humiliating, annoying, and to some truth, downright doesn’t work.

So it doesn’t surprise me, that of all countries, China is the one that is pouring investment into the region, building infrastructure, and establishing trade agreements. Yes, it is in China’s interests, Africa is rich in natural resources, but it also illuminates a core belief of Chinese culture: saving face.

China understands that charity can be humiliating, that it makes you look like you cannot do things by yourself, that somehow, your life is worthless and at its core, simply requires you to live off of others.*  China also doesn’t enlist the superstars like Bono or depend on the soundbites of their president to be the face of Africa to their people.

Sometimes we get caught up in the idea of charity so much, we care more about charity on our end of the stick. Do we ever ask, how does the person I’m giving this to feel? If it makes them worse, then what’s the point? You’re just giving them money to feel better ourselves.

I don’t have any answers about Africa, and I’m sure that aid is still very much necessary (probably more so on the NGO level). But there’s the old Chinese*2 saying:  give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

What does that look like in a real-world context? What does it mean to “teach Africa to fish?” We can keep giving them aid; we can also start trading with them, have them build their own businesses and companies, and treat them with some real respect.

We all need help sometimes; we all also need to believe in ourselves. Healthy balance is key, and somewhere along the way, I think with regards to Africa, we fell a bit off center.

* – Sometimes in life, this is true; you do need the help of others. China gets this too, and you don’t need to look further than the 5/12 earthquake of last year to see that.

*2 – Again, another reason why China at least understands this conundrum better than we do. Whether or not what they’re doing is making it better, well we’ll see.