The idea of poverty

There is something that has been bothering me lately. It’s this whole idea of aid to under-developed countries… first of all, the question is what does under-developed even mean? Do we mean we are helping a physically/economically under-developed country when there is a greater need to develop spiritually? It seems that spirituality is at the bottom of the developed nations´ priority lists. This idea of aid has gone completely insane. I don’t know who had the idea of giving people money and things. I can personally say that donations are not helping the people in Africa. I will not generalize but I will specify. What I have seen when it comes to NGOs, is that all the money that is being put into these organization is not reaching the intended communities and individuals. The millions of dollars are slowly thinned out until there is little to nothing left. The thinning out process occurs in the various NGO offices that this money must pass through. The organizations that do reach the community are causing trouble as well. They come and are with a specific community for some amount of time; they give them things, services and resources that they would otherwise be without. When they leave, these things, services, and resources also leave. All the community is left with is the idea that “white people” give things. I cannot even begin to count the times I have been asked for money by children, ladies, neighbours, and even colleagues. What good are the donations doing? Honestly? When there exists a dependency, not just of money but of any-thing, both parties are in a lose-lose situation, if it were a win-win situation than we would call this collaboration not a dependency. The dependency the “white” people have caused for the majority of Africa and other under-developed nations is making the under-developed nations think that they need these “things” to become a developed nation. This observation also shows the harm it has already caused the “developed” nation. A nation that thinks that things are what develop others; because what is a nation is not a group of others? There is a need to surpass dependency and move towards collaboration. With this a world in which poverty is non-existent will be discovered, because until now it is under-cover. Both parties will develop because both parties will give of their riches and realize the illusion of poverty that has engulfed us all for far too long.