24 October 2005, Part 1
The problem with this site is that postings get put up in the order their posted. So you're going to read me winging about my story not running in Dallas after I've posted the link to it, here http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/world/stories/102305dnintburundidog.2404d2c0.html.
Sorry about that. I got the e-mail after I wrote the blog post.
24 October 2005, Part 2
My friend Steve told me his daughter works at Harley Davidson in the UK. She sent him the new Harley t-shirts, complete with what is reported to be a new design (I haven’t seen it yet, so don’t know if it is in fact new). The shirt cost something like 19 pounds. Steve said that he was tempted to send his daughter an old Harley t-shirt he bought at the market here in Kigali, a used one he got for 500 francs, less than $1.
The Harley shirt is not particularly interesting in and of itself. But the pallet after pallet of used clothing is. Some of the shirts are funny. Rebecca said she saw a guy walking around with a t-shirt that said, “Bob’s Birthday” and had a picture of Bob. The fat, bald white guy on the shirt didn’t look like the guy apparently.
The sheer number of hockey jerseys – old ones that are from recreational teams or old models of Toronto Maple Leafs jerseys – points to the generosity of Canadians, and the number of times the Leafs have changed their looks just make a buck. Boys and men walk around with old soccer jerseys from the English Premier League, and they know the players whose jerseys they are wearing. There are a good number of American football jerseys and baseball shirts floating around as well, although I doubt the Rwandans know those players. And Rik Smits should move to Africa. I’ve seen at least 10 people wearing the number 45 of the Dunking Dutchman of the Indiana Pacers. His fame will live forever in poor countries.
I recognize the generosity involved in sending old, used clothes to Africa. I also recognize that there are some people here so poor that they couldn’t afford clothes otherwise. If you don’t want the shirt, people here probably do.
I know this will sound heartless, but STOP SENDING YOUR OLD JUNK.
I think I stole that from OxFam, so sorry about that. But anyway, the old clothes are actually not helping anyone. Yes, someone has a shirt on his (or her) back. But other people don’t have jobs. Countries in Africa need to develop their own industries, especially in textiles and clothing, or they won’t develop. I live near the Salvation Army headquarters in Kigali (although with all the rain they probably should have sent the Navy and Marines) and am always tempted to go in there, hijack the computers and cancel all the old clothing shipments.
I guess that’s problem with international aid. Donors mean well, they really do. And I understand that people need to clean the old closet every once in a while. But does some poor Rwandan have to suffer with your old Yanni t-shirt? Does anyone need to suffer with your old Yanni t-shirt? While we’re at it, do we have to continue to suffer Yanni? But I digress.
If handouts keep coming, people lose the incentive to make their own industry. Really, if all it costs to get clothes in Rwanda is transport costs for old junk, paid for by the charities, then what incentive do people have to go through the time and expense of putting up factories, paying workers and producing fabric? I certainly wouldn’t see the incentive. The cheap used clothes coming in from the US, Canada and Europe undercut the prices of anything that can be locally produced. So people don’t work, and countries stay poor.
I recognize that that’s only half the equation. Western governments need to stop bad trade policies that protect their farmers and dying industries while hurting farmers in developing countries and killing those economies.
But someone has to make the first more. So, if you don’t want that old I’m With Stupid t-shirt, throw it out. Don’t foist your old junk on other people.
Now that I’m done ranting, here’s what’s new. I may be doing another story for the Dallas Morning News in the next few weeks, on the basket weavers in Gitarama province, which is nice. But they still haven’t run my bloody Burundi story yet. And while we’re at it, that first story I wrote from Rwanda, about AIDS drug distribution, well, CNS still hasn’t run that. It’s only been two months that it’s been sitting there. Ugh.
Rebecca is off visiting more orphanages in Kibungo province. (I’m not 100 percent sure where it is either.) She has to drive herself, which meant that we had to drive around in one of the CRS jeeps all weekend so Bec could get in some practice. She did great, and I am pleased to report that all parts of the jeep that were attached to the behemoth when we pulled out of CRS headquarters on Saturday afternoon returned this morning attached to the truck. (A rearview mirror didn’t make it the first time Bec had to drive one of those things a few months ago.)
We went to our first US Embassy function on Friday, which meant that I had to wear socks. I have these great shoes that are meant for water sports. They have vents and a built-in aqua sock. But they have become my default shoes. The vents are like air conditioning, which is important for someone who couldn’t wear pajamas with feet because his feet were too sweaty when he was a kid.
Anyway, the event was the opening of an art show that my friend Jean-Claude arranged. He runs a project that teaches art to kids affected by HIV – they either have it, were orphaned by it or their parents currently have it. There are 35 kids aged 5 to 16, and they each got to put up a picture in the embassy’s library.
The exhibit was exciting – the other artists from the traffic circle show also have paintings up – and our friend Jjukko from Uganda made a surprise appearance. The kids’ artwork was really advanced, but you can tell that kids produced it with just a little help, not adults guiding their hands.
But the embassy staff left a lot to be desired. They didn’t even show up, except for the public affairs officer and the charge d’affaires, the level below ambassador. We asked about that and were told it was a weekend. But shouldn’t diplomats always be on duty? Shouldn’t they always be working on public diplomacy, getting to know the locals, rather than just going to work and then going to bars with other Americans? Bec and I hadn’t been impressed with the embassy staff here up to this point, and we’re definitely not now.
Anyway, that’s all for now. Sorry for being so whiny today. I’ll have more to write about soon.
The problem with this site is that postings get put up in the order their posted. So you're going to read me winging about my story not running in Dallas after I've posted the link to it, here http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/world/stories/102305dnintburundidog.2404d2c0.html.
Sorry about that. I got the e-mail after I wrote the blog post.
24 October 2005, Part 2
My friend Steve told me his daughter works at Harley Davidson in the UK. She sent him the new Harley t-shirts, complete with what is reported to be a new design (I haven’t seen it yet, so don’t know if it is in fact new). The shirt cost something like 19 pounds. Steve said that he was tempted to send his daughter an old Harley t-shirt he bought at the market here in Kigali, a used one he got for 500 francs, less than $1.
The Harley shirt is not particularly interesting in and of itself. But the pallet after pallet of used clothing is. Some of the shirts are funny. Rebecca said she saw a guy walking around with a t-shirt that said, “Bob’s Birthday” and had a picture of Bob. The fat, bald white guy on the shirt didn’t look like the guy apparently.
The sheer number of hockey jerseys – old ones that are from recreational teams or old models of Toronto Maple Leafs jerseys – points to the generosity of Canadians, and the number of times the Leafs have changed their looks just make a buck. Boys and men walk around with old soccer jerseys from the English Premier League, and they know the players whose jerseys they are wearing. There are a good number of American football jerseys and baseball shirts floating around as well, although I doubt the Rwandans know those players. And Rik Smits should move to Africa. I’ve seen at least 10 people wearing the number 45 of the Dunking Dutchman of the Indiana Pacers. His fame will live forever in poor countries.
I recognize the generosity involved in sending old, used clothes to Africa. I also recognize that there are some people here so poor that they couldn’t afford clothes otherwise. If you don’t want the shirt, people here probably do.
I know this will sound heartless, but STOP SENDING YOUR OLD JUNK.
I think I stole that from OxFam, so sorry about that. But anyway, the old clothes are actually not helping anyone. Yes, someone has a shirt on his (or her) back. But other people don’t have jobs. Countries in Africa need to develop their own industries, especially in textiles and clothing, or they won’t develop. I live near the Salvation Army headquarters in Kigali (although with all the rain they probably should have sent the Navy and Marines) and am always tempted to go in there, hijack the computers and cancel all the old clothing shipments.
I guess that’s problem with international aid. Donors mean well, they really do. And I understand that people need to clean the old closet every once in a while. But does some poor Rwandan have to suffer with your old Yanni t-shirt? Does anyone need to suffer with your old Yanni t-shirt? While we’re at it, do we have to continue to suffer Yanni? But I digress.
If handouts keep coming, people lose the incentive to make their own industry. Really, if all it costs to get clothes in Rwanda is transport costs for old junk, paid for by the charities, then what incentive do people have to go through the time and expense of putting up factories, paying workers and producing fabric? I certainly wouldn’t see the incentive. The cheap used clothes coming in from the US, Canada and Europe undercut the prices of anything that can be locally produced. So people don’t work, and countries stay poor.
I recognize that that’s only half the equation. Western governments need to stop bad trade policies that protect their farmers and dying industries while hurting farmers in developing countries and killing those economies.
But someone has to make the first more. So, if you don’t want that old I’m With Stupid t-shirt, throw it out. Don’t foist your old junk on other people.
Now that I’m done ranting, here’s what’s new. I may be doing another story for the Dallas Morning News in the next few weeks, on the basket weavers in Gitarama province, which is nice. But they still haven’t run my bloody Burundi story yet. And while we’re at it, that first story I wrote from Rwanda, about AIDS drug distribution, well, CNS still hasn’t run that. It’s only been two months that it’s been sitting there. Ugh.
Rebecca is off visiting more orphanages in Kibungo province. (I’m not 100 percent sure where it is either.) She has to drive herself, which meant that we had to drive around in one of the CRS jeeps all weekend so Bec could get in some practice. She did great, and I am pleased to report that all parts of the jeep that were attached to the behemoth when we pulled out of CRS headquarters on Saturday afternoon returned this morning attached to the truck. (A rearview mirror didn’t make it the first time Bec had to drive one of those things a few months ago.)
We went to our first US Embassy function on Friday, which meant that I had to wear socks. I have these great shoes that are meant for water sports. They have vents and a built-in aqua sock. But they have become my default shoes. The vents are like air conditioning, which is important for someone who couldn’t wear pajamas with feet because his feet were too sweaty when he was a kid.
Anyway, the event was the opening of an art show that my friend Jean-Claude arranged. He runs a project that teaches art to kids affected by HIV – they either have it, were orphaned by it or their parents currently have it. There are 35 kids aged 5 to 16, and they each got to put up a picture in the embassy’s library.
The exhibit was exciting – the other artists from the traffic circle show also have paintings up – and our friend Jjukko from Uganda made a surprise appearance. The kids’ artwork was really advanced, but you can tell that kids produced it with just a little help, not adults guiding their hands.
But the embassy staff left a lot to be desired. They didn’t even show up, except for the public affairs officer and the charge d’affaires, the level below ambassador. We asked about that and were told it was a weekend. But shouldn’t diplomats always be on duty? Shouldn’t they always be working on public diplomacy, getting to know the locals, rather than just going to work and then going to bars with other Americans? Bec and I hadn’t been impressed with the embassy staff here up to this point, and we’re definitely not now.
Anyway, that’s all for now. Sorry for being so whiny today. I’ll have more to write about soon.
posted by Evan Weinberger at 5:13 AM
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