THIS ARTICLE 'splains us how Americans are hurting poor people in Africa by donating clothes to charitable organizations.
The guilt! The guilt! It hurtses us, precious.
Holy shit. Throw your disused garments in landfills, people! How can you be so selfish as to give them away for other people to use?
Can't you do anything right?
3 comments:
I quit the Catholics years ago, and since then I've been guilt-free for over twenty years.
I don't know about anyone else, but I've always held true to "Think globally, act locally" aphorism. I donate my clothing to local thrift stores etc, and pass some onto friends or even Freecycle.
I can see what a detriment this actually is. Much in the way that so many post-slavery folks tried to pass their heritage down the generations in the form of ornate quilts; I can see how this could be a detriment.
It is not dissimilar to the way our government has impoverished a lot of Mexican farmers by flooding Mexico with surplus corn, much cheaper than the farmers there can afford to grow.
I think the best solution for all is if we all took care of our own before we worry about others. Build our own strength from within, and not be so quick to "spread the wealth" and do-goodery, when there are so many folks here in the US who could use a leg-up.
Novelist/travel writer Paul Theroux, who served in the Peace Corps in Africa during the Vietnam War era, made this same observation about donated clothing, and much more, in his African travel book Dark Star Safari. He was totally disillusioned by what he found when he returned, that the Africans in the areas where he had worked couldn't even be bothered to pick up a broom and sweep up the dirt.
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