Responsibility

I received a nice email from someone following my blog. I am so happy to know that people do follow what I have to say and care about Yakoly.Org mission as much as I do!

On this blog, I intend to share with you my experiences as Yakoly founder but also my reaction on major events affecting the continent of Africa.

My last entry was a rather harsh criticism of African leaders, but today I intend to focus on Yakoly.Org for which we now have clarified the programs which include:

Education

Provide tools for pre school and primary school teachers and students. Develop a teacher exchange program and school mentoring program.

Infrastructure

For the construction of vital infrastructures which will allow for a better environment. There are now two projects to be financed which are village street building and boarding school students housing.

Health

Assist with prevention campaigns, pharmacy supplies

Banking

Organize education campaign on banking, saving and wealth management

These four development programs are based on what locals in villages we visited in 2007/08 were looking for. The villagers are correct, a community needs these programs in order to prosper but above all they need to understand the notion of responsibility.

Any well oiled international non profit organization can go to villages in developing countries and establish such program. The level of success would be measured on how long these programs would sustain. If the answer is less than forever, than the programs are failures.

We must give the responsibility of development back to Africans by engaging them in the process, working side by side not dictating and adjusting our knowledge to the local customs and beliefs. That means when we travel to Africa to do good, we must be in total immersion within the culture, the language, the customs, etc. because our understanding of a good life standing is not the same as a villager. It would be like trying to fit a rectangle into a square, it's almost there but not quite.
I acknowledge that this is a challenging approach because it also requires deep personal changes on our part. But villagers are also doing a tremendous effort to understand our culture, our language, our customs and our beliefs. Therefore, if we want to be successful at erasing poverty we must give back the responsibility of development to Africans at the village level and immerse ourselves in the local culture while helping.

What do you think? Although I enjoyed receiving your email comments, don't be shy and be the first to comment on the Blog!