The Impact of Foreign Aid
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Poverty is ever present in our current world. No matter where on Earth you go, you will find areas infested with hunger, poverty, and disease. The unfortunate reality is that this does exist everywhere, however, we see these ailments exacerbated in nations such as Haiti, Kenya, and Peru. With the higher rates of poverty and the poorer quality of life, many richer nations such as the United States have attempted to implement themselves in the business of these nations through foreign aid. While most, including myself initially, would think foreign aid can only be good, the film highlights some of the negatives that come with providing to foreign nations like how America has.
The film portrays sections where American politicians admit that the method they had been following for providing foreign aid had not been working, however, I think the more important piece of the documentary that highlights the negatives of the American foreign aid is talking directly to people of those nations receiving donations from the United States. The influx of free or low cost American goods, such as rice, takes opportunity away from foreign farmers and removes their incentive to work and sell as they cannot match the price of the American rice. The intention behind providing foreign aid, in the form of food especially, is pure, however, the unintended negatives that come along with it undermine all the good faith intended by it. Suppressing the local market, removing motivation to work, and taking job opportunities from locals sets the nation up to become solely dependent on American and other foreign aid to survive, rather than growing and becoming a more self sufficient nation.
Dependency vs. Empowerment
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Tying into the end of my previous section, the influence foreign aid has on the direction of a nation is far beyond what I could have imagined. I thought that no wrong could come from providing needed resources to another nation, but the film opened my eyes to the reality of the battle between dependency and empowerment when it comes to assisting foreign countries. This is a point that many of the locals discussed while being interviewed for the film and something that I thought made for a lot of interesting reflection. While it was meant to help provide for the struggling countries, many of the citizens complained that our aid was making their people lazy and was putting them out of work. Since people were not having to provide for themselves, they either left or were forced out of work by the nature of the American supplies. With less work comes less income, and with less income and more free imported goods there is less to buy, which leads to a stall of the local market and economy. Essentially, while the United States is providing these impoverished nations with necessities, we are destroying their chances of being able to grow economically and became a stable, self-sufficient country. The argument of dependency vs empowerment becomes so evident once we realize that, and it is why there are those among this outside nations that are not as keen on the United State's contribution to their nation. Rather, analyzing the market potential that each unique nation possesses, finding ways to grow them further in that, and assisting them to establish themselves within that trade would be a much more beneficial contribution to their nation. Motivating and lending a hand in developing the industries within the nations, not suppressing the markets and making a nation become reliant on aid to survive.
Personal Impact
I can never relate, even remotely, to what the people in these poor, starving, struggling nations are going through. I will never know their struggles or the challenges that their towns and countries are facing. However, having watched the documentary "Poverty Inc.,"
I feel I have a better understanding of the needs of these nations. I thought that contributing to things like food drives and supporting organizations that were providing food and other material aids to nations was truly doing good. I know now that while in certain situations this can be somewhat helpful, but to truly make a change in the world and to push these countries through this stage of impoverishment, we, as a nation, must find ways to support and grow the industries of these struggling nations. We can not put them in situations where they become solely reliant or dependent on foreign donations. If we can find ways to empower these countries to establish themselves in their prospective industries and assist in the growing of their trade, then I truly believe that we can accomplish what we have been trying to for so long. I believe that America could be the key piece in saving these nations from their state of famine and poverty if we learn how to support and guide them rather than allowing them to solely on our aid.