Should we give an ambulance?

There once was an African village on top of a hill. Every year during the rainy season, the trail to the bottom of the hill would get very slippery and inevitably several people would slide off the hill and get hurt. The nearest clinic was very far away and many people died because they could not get care in time. An American church came to this village to help the poor people with their problem. They decided to go back to their church in America and raise money for an ambulance that way the people could get to the clinic sooner. The church was excited to help the needy people and soon the village had a shiny new ambulance. The church people showed them how to use it and then they left. Like always, people fell down the hill in the rainy season, but were whisked away in the ambulance. They were able to get to the clinic in time and were healed! The African people were happy and the American people patted themselves on the back. After a while the ambulance started to break down. The African people asked the church for more money and more people to come out and fix it. The church was hesitant, but they complied. Every year the African people needed more time and more money to fix the ambulance. Eventually the church said they could no longer help because they needed all of their money to go toward their new building fund. The ambulance sat unused and broken down. Once again the people were falling down the hill. Another foreign church came and saw the problem. They decided the solution was to move the clinic closer and provide antibiotics that the Africans did not have. The village people fell down the hill, but were able to get to the clinic sooner and were healed. Eventually the clinic ran out of supplies. The Africans asked the foreign church to help replenish the medicines. The church was unable because it was involved in another short term mission project. Once again the villagers were at risk for dying from falling down the hill. Another missionary came along and saw the problem. The people asked him to help. He asked them if they had any ideas how they could solve the problem. One man timidly spoke up, "what if we build a railing on the trail? I was going to suggest it before, but the ambulance was so shiny and the clinic so close." Everyone agreed that it would be a good idea to build a railing. They talked about how they could gather supplies- there were plenty of trees for wood. The community joined together to clear the path, build the rails, and put them in place. They were very proud of themselves and grew closer and stronger. The next year when it rained, no one fell down the hill because there was a rail to hold onto. After a few years, the rail started to breakdown, so the people rebuilt it and it was as good as new! Although this story is fictional, there are many real stories like it.



The last missionary is what an example of a CHE (Community Health Evangelist). Josh and I just completed our CHE training last week. It challenged our saviour complex to say the least, but opened our eyes to the fact that sometimes helping does hurt. We have been inspired to help in ways that are sustainable, reproducible, locally funded/supplied, and most importantly "owned" by the people. This type of helping is transforming and redeeming!

This article is a fascinating read about how foreign aid is hurting Africa. Here is an exerpt:
Giving alms to Africa remains one of the biggest ideas of our time -- millions march for it, governments are judged by it, celebrities proselytize the need for it. Calls for more aid to Africa are growing louder, with advocates pushing for doubling the roughly $50 billion of international assistance that already goes to Africa each year.

Yet evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that aid to Africa has made the poor poorer, and the growth slower. The insidious aid culture has left African countries more debt-laden, more inflation-prone, more vulnerable to the vagaries of the currency markets and more unattractive to higher-quality investment. It's increased the risk of civil conflict and unrest (the fact that over 60% of sub-Saharan Africa's population is under the age of 24 with few economic prospects is a cause for worry). Aid is an unmitigated political, economic and humanitarian disaster.