Poverty Inc. Recommendation and Review

By Anthony:

Sara and I recently finished watching Poverty Inc.  For the most part it was really well done.  It's a good documentary to get people started in mindset changes about fighting poverty around the world.  If you look around the world at how charity is given by both governments and organizations, there are many problems, and often the global aid actually keeps people in poverty, or tears down the development already happening in the country.

For example, the documentary explores how the situation in Haiti is even worse now after the earthquake and all the global aid that came flooding in.  So much rice was given that rice growers in Haiti got put out of business.  Solar panels were given out freely even though there was already a thriving Haitian company making solar panels which is now struggling to keep afloat.  In Kenya, so many second hand clothes have been given from the West that it completely ruined the textile industry in Kenya; so people have cheap clothes but fewer jobs.  The documentary also shed light on how orphanages often create more orphans, because parents give their children up to the orphanages hoping for them to have a better life.  In reality it would be far better to work with the parents to help them develop jobs and businesses so they can afford to care for their children's needs, like sending them to school and feeding them. There were many eye-opening stories like this all throughout the documentary.  Watching this film can be the beginning of mindset change for us in the United States.

Things I liked about the documentary:
1. It's a film.  Although I'd rather have people read books, films can be viewed and shared quickly and easily.  There are so many huge problems in how governments, churches, organizations, and individuals help the poor around the world.  We need change on a big level, otherwise people who are trying to help the poor with good development principles get smothered.  And the materially poor who take initiative to change their situation can get smothered and have their efforts destroyed by unwise charity programs.  So I hope this film spreads fast and is viewed by thousands of people who would otherwise not be aware of these problems because they don't read much.

2.  The film interviewed a lot of people from other countries.  I would have been disappointed if it was only Americans or Westerners giving their opinions.  The people in the documentary were educated, intelligent, and very wise.  In our global age, a lot of people still think of Africa as one big impoverished continent, where there is nothing good.  It was nice to see so many Africans, and people from other countries, both speaking to the West about how we need to change our practices, and also we got to see capable people in countries around the world working hard to change their situations without receiving aid.

3.  The film argued very effectively the main point that handouts and charity will not make a country develop.  When relief aid is needed, it should be given.  When there is not an emergency, giving charity can be both unhelpful and harmful.  We need to be looking at the big picture, not just the individual person in front of us and their needs.  Just because we have the ability to meet someone's needs, does not mean that we should.  We have to think about the long-term big picture of a whole country.

Things I didn't like:
1.  The documentary was not very well organized.  There were a lot of good points, but it sort of went all over the place.  In the process, there were a lot of generalizations and possible misconceptions.  For example, a lot of different organizations were shown (or at least just their logos and vehicles), and all were largely branded together as being part of the problem.  Even World Renew (formerly CRWRC) showed up.  But my opinion is that some organizations are actually doing good work around the world, and not just giving out handouts to people who don't need them.  For example, World Renew does good development work, helping people to use their own assets to change.

There was also a subtle attack on development workers, inferring that most are continuing in bad methods of charity work just because they enjoy their cushy jobs and retirement funds.  In my experience with my own organization and from meeting people from other organizations, that is not the case.  I admit that it is true that Africans who get jobs at development organizations likely have a very well-paying job compared to many others in their countries.  I also admit that some missionaries or humanitarian workers live too extravagantly with drivers and servants, etc.  But I don't think this is the norm.  For example, World Renew staff are generally way too busy, overworked, and traveling all the time.  They are tired.  But they sacrifice for God's Kingdom and for the materially poor people they are serving.

2.  The film mentions some church ministries but it is mostly a secular documentary.  What I mean is that it views poverty largely as a material problem.  But as Christians we know that poverty is multifaceted.  We know that sin is the root cause of poverty, both our own sins and the sins of the materially poor.  We know that helping someone have a little bit more food to eat doesn't matter a hill of beans compared to having a relationship with our Creator, and being saved in Jesus Christ.  We know that part of fighting poverty is helping people to understand what it means to be made in the image of God.  We know that people need to understand the nature of work and what God created us to do.  We know that we need the power of the Gospel to transform our relationships, to work against injustice, broken systems, and corruption.  We know that teaching a Christian worldview is essential.   There are so many things that contribute to poverty, so the solution to the problem of poverty can never end with only material solutions.  This is a very big limitation of the film, and so I want to make a plug for books such as "When Helping Hurts" and "Walking with the Poor" and others.  I still think the film is helpful and I hope people watch it.  But it doesn't go deep enough into what poverty is really all about and what the solutions are.

3.  The film doesn't really tell us what we CAN do to help.  You are left with a feeling that we should just do nothing.  In all honesty, that wouldn't be a bad way to begin once you first have this mindset change.  But we must get past that feeling and remember God's commands to us that we must help the poor.  There are many things that we can do, that are truly helpful, that truly work, that don't involve just giving handouts to people who don't need them.  There are organizations doing good development work, and development work is sometimes even more expensive than relief handouts, so we must still give generously!  We should be even more generous than we have been in the past.  Don't give a pair of shoes.  Instead, send money to World Renew or Partners Worldwide or Hope International or International Justice Mission or the Chalmers Center.  Don't send a shoe box of toys.  Instead, support long-term missionaries and development workers who are sharing the Gospel and giving hope to the poor.  Don't just send a Bible.  Instead give a loan or invest in someone starting their own printing company in the country.  Think big.  Think development.  It costs money.  Be generous.  Read this great article about not giving things that won't really help people.

Some random thoughts/insights we had ourselves while watching the documentary:

1.  Relief and handouts are needed in emergency situations.  But it will take wisdom to know when to stop that giving.  Even if the giving of handouts has already gone 10 years past the time when you should have stopped, there will still always be people who want you to stay.  This could be because of dependency, laziness, human nature, or that the people who are helping have savior complexes and won't release the people but instead keep treating them like children.  So you can't always wait for people to tell you to leave.

2.  Get a good understanding of what is available in the country you are going to before you bring donations.  So often we hear of missionaries bringing things because they say, "oh such things are not available at all in a certain country."  And yet, so often we know that those things are indeed available in the country, whether solar panels, Bibles, tractors, etc.  Just because there aren't Sunday school materials in a certain church you partner with, doesn't mean that Sunday school materials aren't available in the city or country of that church.  In Uganda I had many people begging me to give them a Bible, saying that they couldn't get one without me.  Yet they had money, and not more than 10 miles down the road was a bookshop where they could get one at little cost.

3.  Don't just fly into a country, look at the way people are living, and say "it's so terrible."  You can't make such a quick judgement of the situation.  Instead you need to live there for a few years.  And learn from the people who have been there for a long time, missionaries and nationals alike.  And don't say, "it's so terrible, I need to save these wretched people from their poverty."  Instead, view the materially poor you are working with as colleagues, allies, and team members.  For a very powerful article about the importance of learning first and taking the long view in order to see change overseas or change in our systems here at home, read this article.

4.  Jobs are important.  Programs like helping women to make beads and jewelry to sell can be good, but it is even more important to have sustainable jobs.  You can only buy so many pieces of jewelry.  It's better to help people start businesses and factories for things that are real needs, and will need to be bought over and over again, like value-added food products, soap, and clothes.   We are wary in general of any charity program that fuels materialism and consumerism in Americans.  We want the materially poor to have jobs and develop, but that shouldn't be contingent on Americans buying more and more and more stuff that they don't really need.