Charity or Global Responsibility?: The Kony Children

 Charity and the Kony Children

There was a story in the Globe and Mail on March 27 called "A Made-in-Canada Way to Help Children Hurt by Kony".  This story features Lorna Pitcher, a woman who started a charity to address the issues faced by children who had been forced to be child soldiers by Joseph Kony and others.    This is a wonderful example of  'social entrepreneurship' where someone has seen a need, and acted in a positive way.  Ms Pitcher was not overcome by the size and complexity of the issue, she was not cynical, and she took responsibility to help fellow human beings.

However, as much as I support grassroots initiatives, I also worry that shining examples of individual action take the pressure away from governments to protect the common good, and to take coordinated action for long-term peace building.  I also worry that people get used to the idea that some governments are unable to fulfill their responsibility to provide a baseline level of care for its citizens.  It becomes normal for small scale charitable activities, driven by the frustration of individuals who see the need, to step into the breach left by governments instead of there being pressure to develop a stable society with proper social and public infrastructure.   In other words, it becomes normal for governments not to act; it becomes normal for people to accept responsibility to provide some services, though perhaps inadequate for the need that exists.  The larger projects that support long-term peace development on a comprehensive scale get dropped off the radar and our collective responsibility falls by the wayside.

Clearly, the people who take action are good people who are making a bad situation better.  They are doing the best they can and cannot be criticized for it.  But do we stop talking about government and international responsibility to support these children?  Do we avoid talking to the communities who also must grapple with these challenges? NO.  These things must also be done, and we cannot sink into thinking that these amazing individuals speak and do for all of us. Because they don't.  Lorna Pitcher happens to Canadian, but unless we do in fact provide governmental support in some fashion (and I don't know if we do or don't - this is not a critique of any particular government initiative or lack, it is a critique of a general trend) the rest of us are not contributing through tax dollars or other means to support the Kony children.  And it is not truly 'made-in-Canada'.  If our government does not participate in supporting local people to participate in their own solutions, then neither do we as a nation.    We shouldn't lapse into complacency as we bask in Ms Pitcher's shine.

All efforts need to be made at all levels to work toward peace for these children and communities.  We need to make sure that we participate as much as our dedicated fellow citizens who took matters into their own hands. We are all global citizens.