FINALLY. Someone has answered my prayers of finding a solution to this bitter arctic freezing cold weather. Now I’m not in Norway exactly, but New York City might as well be Antarctica as far as I’m concerned. I grew up much farther south than this so let’s just say I’m used to a much milder winter than the one I’m experiencing now. Particularly today, which started out at 0 degrees ( Disclaimer: I’m working in Fahrenheit here, so that’s like -32 celsius for the rest of the world)
It’s not just today, though. Every time I check the weather all I see are those damn little snowflakes predicted for the week. But what’s worse are the minus signs. How do we survive in negative degrees??!
But not to worry, Africa can save us. They’ll tackle Norway first, but I’m sure they won’t stop there. It’s such a warm continent they must know how to help. They’ll sell this charity single, raise money, and buy enough radiators to warm the entire northern hemisphere. Hope is here!
Ok let’s rewind here. I’m being pretty sarcastic here--except for the bitter cold part, that’s real life.
Hopefully in the ridiculous concept of Africa saving the cold people of the world, we can see how equally ridiculous it is for the developed world to think that they can save all of the poor people of the world by just throwing charity fundraising campaigns together. The intentions aren’t the problem, it’s the perception people walk away with after participating in those campaigns. We are global citizens after all, that means that we need to engage in development projects and push forward plans to end extreme poverty. BUT that doesn’t mean that we have to stereotype the entire continent of Africa while doing so.
I’m talking about all of the sad photos of malnourished African babies with the distended stomachs that we see so often in fundraising campaigns. Poverty porn is not the way to accomplish a goal. (If you’re looking for another funny video that blasts this issue particularly, check out this awesome one)
The people that put together this satirical campaign for Norway want four things:
1. Fundraising should not be based on exploiting stereotypes. Stop using sad photos. Poverty does not equal sadness. By perpetuating these stereotypes, it comes across as if there’s nothing else to Africa but sad, hungry children. There’s also amazing culture, awesome cities, loving communities and delicious food to name a few things.
2. Better information about what’s going on in the world, in schools, in TV and media. Every time a kid hears about Africa in the US it shouldn’t just be about crisis and poverty. The positive developments should be discussed too.
3. Media: show respect. Journalists need to keep their ethical standards abroad just as much as they would in their hometowns. If you wouldn’t publish a picture of a starving white baby without permission, you should be doing so with anyone.
4. Aid must be based on real needs, not “good” intentions. Like I said, good intentions are nice, but they’re just that: intentions. For aid to go further than just thoughtfulness, it must address the needs of the community. That being said, let’s emphasize the part about the needs being identified by the community, not what we think they need.
The RADI-AID campaign asks us, “Imagine if every person in Africa saw the “Africa for Norway” video and this was the only information they ever got about Norway. What would they think about Norway?”
Probably that everyone in Norway is cold.
Well, if every fundraising campaign and media segment features only the poverty in Africa what are we to think about the continent?
That everyone in Africa is poor.
I’m going to take a wild guess and say that both of those statements are equally untrue.
So let’s change our thinking and learn beyond the poverty porn. If not, then please feel free to send me a radiator.
As a bonus, if you liked this video check out this other great one done by the same folks about volunteering in Africa.
----
Alex Vinci