This past weekend I attended the watching of Poverty Inc. I signed up for the event because it happened to be the only event I could attend this week. Originally, it was not an event I thought I would enjoy, but my mind quickly changed once the film started.

Poverty Inc discussed the aftermath of a natural or economical disaster in several countries. It showed how people all over the world begin efforts to send supplies and aid to those countries to help them. However, what I found most interesting, and what was the key point of the film, was that all of those NGO’s caused more harm than good. The film went through describing how sending in extremely cheap resources and giving things out for free in those countries directly hurts the few businesses there that could have flourished or helped the population. A good example they gave dealt with eggs. A small farmer was providing eggs for the entire town, however many GMOs came and gave our free eggs. As a result, the small farmer could not compete and went out of business. Then, when the GMO’s left he was not in business and the town suffered. This made me really think about the best way to help struggling people.

From the film and the video, I learned that the best way to help people isn’t through free stuff. You should teach them how to be indepenedt, and give them the infomation to succeed. It made a lot of sense, given the age old axiom “If you give a man a fish, he’ll have food for the night. But if you teach a man to fix, he’ll have food for the rest of his life”.

I thought this video and discussion was really great at explaining the harm of doing good, and not really thinking about the effects of your actions. Can anyone provide any personal experiences?