BLOGGERThe paradox of charity in Ethiopia No, I am not referring to the charity that we Ethiopians have notoriously been receiving from foreigners for decades. I am talking about charity by Ethiopians to fellow Ethiopians. Yes, we do have few rich people that have become household names not so much for their accomplishment in making the money (which I think is a big deal) but for the way they give it away by way of
charity and to whom they do so. You guessed it right; the one that comes to mind first is Sheikh Al Amoudi. He is considered to be the 77th richest person and the richest
black person in the world and/or one of the richest Arabs. That is a paradox in itself – a country synonymous with poverty has a son in the global league table of the wealthy. But that isn’t the sort of irony that would strike me – Ethiopia happens to have plenty of that (example: they say Ethiopia is one of the places where food crops were originally domesticated, but now in Ethiopia food seems to be as scarce as weapons of mass destruction).
What strikes me as rather weird is the business of charity in Ethiopia. First the usual disclaimer: I wouldn’t argue that people like Al Amoudi haven’t done enough or even have any kind of obligation to be charitable. I think he has done a lot; and fellow Ethiopians should be proud that because of him, for a change, the name Ethiopia crops up in matters of individual wealth instead of infant mortality or famine. Here is where I get slightly mystified about the attitude towards charity à la Ethiopia: it tends to confuse kind deeds to-causes proper and anyone can become a charity case next to someone who has more. You watch a woman praising the Sheikh for his eminent charity of sending her only
pitiful daughter to an elite university in the States, or some professor for sending him for better eye treatment abroad (see video clips posted on Ethiopiafirts.com). Is this really what charity is about?
I wouldn’t say that I would reject such help if I were in these people’s shoes. But I would still say that it is paradoxical that such cases are routinely taken as “charity cases” in a country where children die of starvation on a massive scale. Yes, people help others on various terms such as parents to children – in which case you don’t consider the
efficiency of your giving. But that isn’t charity and it would be strange to discuss it in public.
These cases of the Sheikh’s generosity must therefore be presumed to be
charity to have come to the public domain and I just wonder if we should really waste compassion on someone because of their lack of elite graduate education, and if such acts of charity should qualify as an act of national heroism.
How do other philanthropists like for example Bill Gates and Warren Buffet go about doing charity? They usually have a foundation to help poor people around the world – including Ethiopia, mainly in the area of public health (e.g. malaria control). Do they give handouts to middle-class passersby? I am not sure but it doesn’t seem to be the case. In fact rumor has it that they don’t even intend to leave much inheritance to their own children. “We would like our children to be happy in making money for themselves just like we - their parents - were…”. That is the sort of attitude they seem to have.
Well, there are probably not many Ethiopian charitable foundations in Ethiopia and founding one is never easy, so the only way for the kindhearted Sheikh to dispense his urge to help folks, in addition to the occasional ordinary charity like fixing libraries, would be to give it to failing football or pop stars, the most infamous and vocal leaches in town or ordinary folks that he runs into and they tell him that they feel depressed about their children not having graduate degrees.
Ethiopia is a land of paradoxes. They say we were among the leaders of the long march to civilization but are now the notorious laggards causing serious charity-fatigue. And when we
do do charity ourselves, it goes to elite education and first-rate medical treatment. Life for the typical Ethiopian is a misery on a scale mankind has never known but we the lucky few consider our situation deplorable when we cannot afford to send our children to private schools and stretch our arms to receive charity. It is a bit strange.
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