On 5 April 2013, I
attended a postgraduate event at my university here in Australia. It was a UN
Women presentation on a “white women” empowerment scheme for poor, dirty,
inferior women from the “developing world” (whatever that means). As usual,
there is nothing new, albeit my initial impression when I walked into the room.
I thought to myself, “this lady is so young, how did she get this position?” As
a matter of fact, I am enamoured with this question because I am always
confused by the fact that, regardless of our/my unique lived experiences and
extremely successful backgrounds, white women (and/or man) with a “deep
passion” (or guilt) to “help poor Africa” is preferred for scholarship,
research, empowerment and development projects. It’s so pervasive that it seems
stupid and fruitless (to me) most of the time. But I guess, as William Easterly
said in the White
Man’s Burden, “[t]he West spent $2.3 trillion and still had not managed to
get $3 to each new mother to prevent five million child deaths.” Why is it that
even uppity Dambisa Moyo can
see this squander but not the so-called makers of difference (who would do well
to read this)?
There is certainly an undercurrent at play, an introspection each “development
zombie” should mull over before taking that two-week volunteer trip to "help Africa"...continue
