Picture this. I'm sitting in a room full of men (why are men in charge of so many things?) in the small front room of an apartment. The men are Sudanese and they form the parents' committee for Sudanese Future School, a refugee school in Arabawenos (a poorer part of Cairo). Although MCC helped found SFS, we hadn't been involved for years, up until a few months ago. That was when we heard the school was accepting help from a Muslim organization and starting to consider teaching a Muslim curriculum.
There are a couple of problems here. One is money. The school doesn't have enough money to pay for rent and for teachers' salaries. This is due partly to actual lack of funds and partly to mismanagement of existing funds. In some ways, they have to take what they can get. The other problem is a huge departure from the original vision, which was for a Christian school. The school has no board of directors to hold the administration accountable and the admin and teachers have been drifting.
There are also two sides to the issue(s). One man, the founder of the school, says the school has begun to teach students Islam, that the parents are very upset, that the administration has been stealing money, etc. The other man, the current headmaster, says they are in financial trouble because of the founder's actions, the school is still straight upon it's vision of Christianity, and the parents are perfectly happy together if the founder will leave them alone. Both have been coming to us for help and as a mediator for a while now - I feel like we're no closer to really understanding the situation.
Now, the founder has left that school and is looking to MCC for help in starting a new, Christian, school. However, the old school is also looking to MCC for help in sorting out their current difficulties. Arabawenos is about an hour's drive away from Maadi, so we can't just pop in and observe at any time. Who is lying? Who is right? Who should we help?
We (Dave and I) tried to explain to this room full of men that sometimes giving money is not the best way to help, even though it seems like it is. If we continue to give money, they continue to be dependent on us and end up in the same financial trouble whenever we can't provide anymore. I know this logically makes sense and is the best long term strategy. But I can read the thoughts of the parents. "So what if we end up in the same trouble next month? We're in this trouble NOW, bail us out and then we can deal with next month." To hear us say, giving you money is not the best solution, when they obviously need money, well....
That's when helping hurts. We do need to think about the long term, and we need to be good stewards of the resources at our disposal. We do need to be sure that they're managing their money well and that they're committed to teaching kids in a Christian way. We need other people at MCC to review and approve our decisions and we need to consider the other organizations we help, some of which are refugee schools in equally difficult situations. Even when we have the money and could throw it at the problem, that's usually not the best way. But for each person in that meeting tonight, it probably seemed like another dead end. No money = no help. As much as we tried to assure them otherwise, I can see their point.
When Helping Hurts is actually the title of a book by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert. If this topic interests you...you should check it out.
There are a couple of problems here. One is money. The school doesn't have enough money to pay for rent and for teachers' salaries. This is due partly to actual lack of funds and partly to mismanagement of existing funds. In some ways, they have to take what they can get. The other problem is a huge departure from the original vision, which was for a Christian school. The school has no board of directors to hold the administration accountable and the admin and teachers have been drifting.
There are also two sides to the issue(s). One man, the founder of the school, says the school has begun to teach students Islam, that the parents are very upset, that the administration has been stealing money, etc. The other man, the current headmaster, says they are in financial trouble because of the founder's actions, the school is still straight upon it's vision of Christianity, and the parents are perfectly happy together if the founder will leave them alone. Both have been coming to us for help and as a mediator for a while now - I feel like we're no closer to really understanding the situation.
Now, the founder has left that school and is looking to MCC for help in starting a new, Christian, school. However, the old school is also looking to MCC for help in sorting out their current difficulties. Arabawenos is about an hour's drive away from Maadi, so we can't just pop in and observe at any time. Who is lying? Who is right? Who should we help?
We (Dave and I) tried to explain to this room full of men that sometimes giving money is not the best way to help, even though it seems like it is. If we continue to give money, they continue to be dependent on us and end up in the same financial trouble whenever we can't provide anymore. I know this logically makes sense and is the best long term strategy. But I can read the thoughts of the parents. "So what if we end up in the same trouble next month? We're in this trouble NOW, bail us out and then we can deal with next month." To hear us say, giving you money is not the best solution, when they obviously need money, well....
That's when helping hurts. We do need to think about the long term, and we need to be good stewards of the resources at our disposal. We do need to be sure that they're managing their money well and that they're committed to teaching kids in a Christian way. We need other people at MCC to review and approve our decisions and we need to consider the other organizations we help, some of which are refugee schools in equally difficult situations. Even when we have the money and could throw it at the problem, that's usually not the best way. But for each person in that meeting tonight, it probably seemed like another dead end. No money = no help. As much as we tried to assure them otherwise, I can see their point.
When Helping Hurts is actually the title of a book by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert. If this topic interests you...you should check it out.