D.I.Y Foreign-Aid for Dummies

Lots of folks have asked me about the splash of conversation about Kristoff’s D.I.Y Foreign Aid article earlier this month and the reaction from Foreign Policy calling for professionals, and a counter-reaction discussing the need to empower local organizations.

To me, common-sense prevails: the Western media is of course Western-centric and will amplify the Whites in Shining Armor stereotype. They have no incentive to be otherwise. Americans remain largely ignorant about the world because the media is silent about most global events, and many good-hearted ones want to “help” somehow, somewhere. There are good organizations out there, there are bad organizations out there, both within America and abroad. Bigger is not always better, and smaller isn’t always successful. We shouldn’t all run off to start our own organization and we shouldn’t shy away from seeking to make the world a better place, either.

The more practical question for me is one to each individual who may be looking to make a difference, and feels a tug to international work: just what are you passionate about, and what are you doing to educate yourself and grow?

Here is my twelve-step program to become a recovering do-gooder, loosely entitled Becoming a D.I.Y-er in Foreign Aid without screwing up the world:

1. Read. Not just surfing the internet. Buy books. Digest foreign newspapers. Get informed. About current events and history, particularly history from other perspectives. Read long paragraphs in things called chapters (something that seems to be going extinct with our micro-blogging culture). Think deep thoughts without doing six other things on the computer and wrestle with hard questions.

2. Meet people who are different from you. Be a student of people, ask questions that start with “why” and “how” and find out how they do things while suspending your judgement.

3. Find a “cultural insider”, someone from that other culture that you are trying to understand who you give permission to to tell you you’re being an idiot. For instance, when I was working with InterVarsity’s Black Campus Ministries, the girls I hung out with referred to their hair as “nappy”. Wanting to fit in, and thinking it was okay, I once referenced “nappy” in talking about hair. A pregnant pause followed, and then my friend chuckled and said, “Megan, you’re not allowed to say that, only we are.” Ohh… Ok. Thank goodness for my friend who was biased towards helping me navigate the cross-cultural world.

4. Engage in service locally. Jesus had it right when he told his followers to go to “Jerusalem, Judea, and to the ends of the earth.” Jerusalem was his home, Judea his region. Dabble in volunteering and see what gets you excited. But if you cannot prove a consistent, committed volunteerism where you live, you have no business going abroad to “help” people “over there.” And if you do commit in that way, you will learn so much about yourself, the world, and things that work and don’t.

5. Embrace getting out of your comfort zone: let “uncomfortable” be the new “comfortable”. Oh, you thought #2-4 were enough? Sorry! Figure out what makes you uncomfortable and stretch yourself. Back to IVCF at Harvard, I remember being invited to a student party and realizing suddenly that I was the only white person in the room. It was a Harvard I never knew, and would never have experienced without taking a leap. Now, no biggie, I’m nearly always the only white person around and now feel uncomfortable when only around other white people. And still, I often find that just when I think I’ve gone as far out on my limb as I possibly can go, I’m challenged to go further.

6. Learn to be wrong and to say sorry. I don’t hire anyone that hasn’t made mistakes, and I don’t even let anyone come and volunteer who hasn’t demonstrated learning beyond their culture and being able to say sorry (no matter what culture or continent they come from). This is the spirit necessary to engage in other parts of the world. This is even true in corporate America – being able to say “I don’t know” or “I made a mistake” is a sign of leadership.

7. Remember. We are inherently forgetful creatures. Keep a journal. Write down your experiences and the lessons you are learning. Refer back to your writing periodically.

8. Volunteer for two weeks to two months somewhere different. Do it in a way that uses your professional expertise and gives you a real social experience. Going to Nepal to peel potatoes isn’t helpful to anyone. But leveraging your current expertise to provide support to an organization that needs it is really worthwhile. Staying in a hostel with other foreigners really isn’t getting to know the culture. Take time to plan properly so you stay with a host family or locals of your age.

9. Adjust your lifestyle. Thinking of helping “the poor?” They often have great joy despite little material goods. How little can you get by on? Do you really need that extra sweater, even if it is on sale? Do you need to be driving your brand new $100,000 car? If you are looking at moving abroad to try to make systemic change, it starts with you, and it starts with the little, daily, seemingly inconsequential or irrelevant decisions.

10. Give money in an informed, engaged way. You can give more now that you’re following #9, right? Don’t give money to a charity you don’t know and haven’t done due diligence on – ask them for audits, annual reports, or other documents that proves they are legitimate. If they don’t want to give you this information, you probably don’t want to invest your money with them. Find organizations that do a lot with a little, and that have a good track record. Rather than giving little amounts to many organizations, consider a sustained, impact-full investment over several years to one or two, and interact with them through their website, email, skype, etc. Don’t forget to keep doing #1-7 above – money isn’t a substitute for time or personal growth. Here’s an example (which I like because I created it for folks like you).

11. Get together a mentorship team for yourself. Find four to ten people who you admire, who are doing things that inspire you in ways that you respect, and ask them to speak into your life and help guide you on your journey. I did this and it really helped not only in the discernment process for me to come back to Kenya in 2001, but also to not take certain jobs along the way that looked good but didn’t feel right, and they gave me important questions to think about that helped me put things in place to have a better experience when I did move here.

12. Go back – commit for one or two years, after having gained any additional skills you think you may need. Take all that you have learned and apply it with a longer-term commitment. Note that “back” might be your backyard, not another country. Be open to that! We have so many problems in America, and we need really smart, talented, compassionate, and savvy Americans to solve them.

And two last thoughts, once you’ve gotten that far:

Share what you’re learning. Share your experiences with others so we can all learn from each other and help make the most impact in the areas where we desire to do so.

Don’t give up. In David Bornstein’s How to Change the World, the most common denonimator (besides a lot of people investing in solving problems in their own home area)  I saw was people who were willing to hit their head against a wall for years and years before something moved. One has to be wise and sometimes make the call to quit a particular project, but don’t give up on the greater vision – learn, regroup, debrief, and get back on that bicycle.

Am I glossing over things? Yes. Am I probably forgetting something? Sure. This a blog, not a book. But maybe I’ll write one someday. After I achieve all I have set out to do or fall short while trying.