I recently read an article about fair trade coffee. Paramount Coffee is working to buy coffee from Rwanda without cheating them just because they live in a 3rd world country. Besides triumphing building positive business relationship across the world, it drove home a more unfortunate point. The article stated how donor money was used, in part, to buy goats, noting goat milk as a perk to this plan. In a few places goat milk is embraced, however most Rwandans think of goat milk as disgusting and unnatural. What appears to be an excellent plan to us can be viewed entirely differently when you flop over an ocean and a culture.
The larger point I'm getting at is some advice about working with international aid organizations or businesses. I truly believe you can't fully understand how the operation works (effectively, ineffectively, misguided, wasteful) until you see it in the foreign country. The full picture is always bigger than what can be said through a website, a picture, a testimonial, a promotional video. I am not saying don't donate your money or your time to an aid organization. But be skeptical. Do research. Ask questions. No organization is perfect but far more aren't even attempting to achieve that goal.
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