There have been a lot of news stories recently about what Haitians need from the Western world to recover from the earthquake. People want to help and many Americans look first to the piles of junk they have accumulated in their basements or attics as a way of clearing some space while giving them to someone in need.
A recent New York Times
article touches on this issue. What should Americans give to Haiti? The overwhelming answer from the likes of the world biggest relief agencies is: Cash. The argument goes something like this: Relief agencies are already on the ground and can use the cash immediately to put in place relief efforts and supplies. Donated, used goods, often don’t match the needs of the disaster victims and can get in the way of what relief agencies really need. Further, some donated items just get stuck in customs waiting for corrupt officials to clear them. When good intentions go bad it can look like this:
"One person wrote about the bewilderment of survivors of Hurricane Mitch in Honduras upon opening a box of donated high-heeled shoes, while another tells of the arrival in Congo of boxes of used toothbrushes, expired over-the-counter drugs and broken bicycles."
To bring this story closer to my work in Gulu: We know of one aid organization that collects used desktop computers. They then refurbish them and distribute them to schools and local institutions. The problem with this is that these computers are, first of all, old and often run like a 10 year old computer should run (i.e., slow) and secondly, because they are old desktops, they consume tremendous amounts of electricity. This becomes a problem when there is no electricity grid outside an urban area. Schools with donated computers are left to try and buy fuel for a generator to run these things, which if ran everyday, would cost the school thousands of dollars a year. Schools here just don’t have that kind of budget, leaving these second-hand, donated computers as mostly useless (see photo below).
We installed a few (new) solar powered PCs at a school in Pabo (a former IDP camp). They had also been given a lab of 8 refurbished desktop computers from the above mentioned unnamed organization. We asked them how many times they had used those computers and their answer: 1 time in 3 years.
So next time you have the impulse to throw old “things” at a problem, do a little research and see what organizations can meet the same needs more efficiently with a cash donation (and think of
BOSCO-Uganda if you are looking to get involved with computers/Internet/ICT in Uganda!).
PS…from my experience, donated second-hand clothes have been put to good use domestically at homeless shelters or your local Catholic Worker house.
