There have been many arguments about the efficacy of external aid, mostly about their failure to have any real impact on poverty, governance or inequality. People probably think of these when they consider supporting aid. While such criticisms are mostly true, it is equally true that external aid does benefit many people.
There is, of course, compassion when faced with images of human suffering anywhere in the world. It is right that people want to find ways of reducing that suffering, but in doing so, it should be recognised that no external support will overcome the lack of compassion or support for minorities within a community or country.
The reasons for such failure are too many to be listed. They include family quarrels, jealousy, hatred, stigma, or those who are thought not to be contributing to the norms or work of a community, society or group. Because of these factors such people are kept from local community methods of support and are often isolated. It is these few that suffer the most, have the most problems, poor health and child deaths.
It is noteworthy that survey after survey has shown in many countries that a small percentage of women have over half the child deaths, and one of the main factors driving this is their lack of familial or community support.
In communities that are already poor, the withdrawal of support is especially damaging.
This disparity exists to varying extent in all societies, but it is something that external aid seems powerless to address. This may be partly because of the irony that compassion is always selective -- meaning that we choose those that we wish to support, and exclude others from
What is missed, however, is that external aid, even aid that is provided by local community outsiders, fails fundamentally to support the least supported or powerful in any country or community.
This article takes the form of a life story which demonstrates a person's gradual evolution of thinking, the drawbacks of working to ideals, and the problems of governments and aid programmes in focusing on those who really do suffer the disproportionate burden of mental and physical suffering, or death.
In particular it highlights the redundancy of most of the categories used in development (poverty, power, women etc.). Instead it shows that, whatever category is chosen, there is a minority that still suffer disproportionately highly whilst the majority are able to cope. It is that minority whose problems are caused by their immediate social support environment from family or local community.
Because this is such an essential aspect of human nature, it is important that, when people give to aid, they equally realise that while that aid will help some, it will inevitably not help those who are the neediest and least supported.