One earns a living, makes some money and feels the urge, due to his moral or religious background, to donate part of his savings to ones favorite charity institution or governmental program. But, in reality, how do these donations really help the ones that receive them?
Perhaps, such resources should not go to those that face the problem, but instead to those who can provide the ones facing the problems with mechanisms that enables them to solve their problems by themselves.
Donations that provide shelter, food and medical assistance only help people in emergency or catastrophic situations. Providing a continuous flow of such resources to a developing country may hinder the development of their own infrastructure for providing such services.
At a federal governmental level, providing support to the political change in other countries by pressuring specific social groups using economic, military and social maneuvers may backfire. Governments involved in such interventions may be the ones to get the blame by the targeted country citizens once the results of such actions are in place and are, most often than not, judged as less than satisfactory.
Donations should be put on creating opportunities that will lead to the country social and economic development. It is only by making people participate in the construction of their own society that the benefits of living in such society will be properly perceived, understood and valued by society members.
If there is a housing problem, let us support local construction firms or work parties that will use local workforce to built houses for themselves. Motivation in participating in such efforts by the population should increase as more and more citizens move from shelters to homes. Sanitation problems could also be resolved in a similar manner.
If food is in shortage and/or population is illiterate, support agrarian/agricultural cooperative projects that provide development of local crops and employment for lower class members. In long term, this may lead to the creation of an agrarian economy, while in short term guaranteeing a little income for those who originally had nothing.
If the problem is lack of qualified workforce, collaborate with industry by supporting training courses for the population. This may ensure that neither a country's industry nor its population intellectual growth stagnates.
The lack of medical assistance is a grave societal problem and a non-trivial one to resolve, because of the high degree of knowledge required for performing medical activities. With the help and sponsorship of international pharmaceutical companies, investing in basic medical training for the literate part of the population could deliver jobs for these people while increasing the health quality of the population as a whole. Parallel to preventive care, a partnership with the government should enable the improvement of local hospitals that should also initially work as training centers for medical practitioners.
Last, if the problem is a corrupt government, invest on informing the population about what the current political state in their country is, how it could actually be, and what options they have as citizens to change the situation themselves. A country's future is in the hand of its population and no one else. Intervening in the political welfare of a country is stealing its population of the experience of a revolution and their patriotic responsibility for their country's future.
Other problems, such as lack of higher education and violence are other important problems, but that are far more difficult to be dealt without direct participation of the target country's government.
In summary, one must ask oneself whether money is really the best way to express charity. If it is the only way, then care must be taken on how such resource is directed, so that it does not become a mere dose of consolation for nations that are becoming addicted to passively being taken care of, but which cannot stand by themselves.
More important than money donation is the donation of time. Investing ones own time and knowledge to the benefit of others is the greatest gift. If one knows how to build, heal, grow, entertain, calculate, one should pass that knowledge on. If one (thinks that) has the solution to other's problem, one should point that out. If one has tolerance, compassion and love, one should use these fine skills in dealing with the seemingly unsurmountable amount of injustice, disrespect and indifference that faces us on a daily basis.
Stare at your naked soul. What is it telling you?
P.S.: I know, this is a boring post, I've just realized it after reviewing it. Well, it is already written, so it is going to be kept.
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