Let’s Not Do to Dreamers What We Just Did to Afghanistan

Why invest billions in education and abandon the returns?

Happier Days: “#School4All. Supported by EU funding, Norwegian Refugee Council ensures access to school in Heart, Afghanistan, for children from different regions of the country who had to escape conflict or drought. The majority of them have never received any education before.” April 3, 2019. (photo: EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid. ©2019 European Union)

Many heroic, savior-types the world over and throughout history have had the exact same problem- at least at first.

Those uninitiated to peace work- though they are usually people who genuinely want to help make the world a better place- sometimes try to help in ways that are not helpful. Missionaries, human aid workers, volunteers, governments; many have fallen victim to a kind of self-centered, myopic thinking which usually makes a mess of things.

It goes like this:

Imagine a guest is invited to a party. When they arrive, things are a bit hectic and the host seems overwhelmed. The house is a mess, a pot on the stove is boiling over, kids are crying, adults are arguing, a sink is overflowing and there’s water everywhere. A faint smell of acrid smoke hangs in the air.

“Stop everything!” the well-meaning but misguided guest might shout into the mayhem; “Here is what we need to do right now.”

The more successful, welcomed peace workers- and party guests- who actually help the people and communities they are trying to help do it the easy way instead.

They find the people who are already helping and help them.