I think I know now. It occured to me when I was listening to the episode “Island Time” on This American Life (on a side note, TAL is one the best produced radio shows in the world, and if you are not subscribed to its podcast, then you are missing out on something great!). In act two of that episode Apricot Irving goes to a Haitian-run hospital and meets with an American doctor Steven who used to head the missionary hospital but left in order to help foster a “new” post-earthquake Haiti at the Haitian-run clinic.

Here she noticed that all the Haitian patients ask for the American doctor and don’t trust the Haitian doctors who are equally qualified. This is no different with other Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) as well. When a foreigner heads an NGO, then things begin to fall in place because people listen to the foreigner. But put a Haitian in charge and suddenly things become very diffcult to accomplish. Despite this, Steve, the American doctor, refuses to head the hospital. He insists that a Haitian should lead it and Steve should just be a doctor there.

When asked about this, Steve said that the common model of a foriegner-led NGO would work for his hosptial very well, but that leads to the ‘plantation attitude’ where all Haitians start looking up to foreigners to solve all their problems. This forces Steve to take on the mantel of a ‘benevolent dictator’ to save lives. The problem with this model, he contents, is that then Haitians will never become independent and self-sufficient because they wont trust themselves to depend on themselves. They will always look for a benevelent dictator. However, by putting Haitians in charge, things suddenly don’t go smoothly at all. Things that could be fixed very quickly with a benovalent dictator model doesn’t get done, and in case of the hospital, it means that many people who could have been saved by timely treatments, surgeries, or medicine simply die. The very idea that you can do something very quickly and easily to save someone, and yet you let them die because this way Haiti will be more independent in the long run goes against the moral fibre of many NGOs and volunteers. So, the benevolent dictator model perpetuates itself.

But, if Haitians are to become truly independent, then that is the price to pay for nation/community building. It’s a slow and painful process which may take a generation to come to fruition, and people are going to be deperate, poor, and some who could be saved are going to die. But at the end of it, it is hoped that the Haiti that comes out is a self-sufficient, independent, and properous Haiti that does not need NGOs to survive. In NGO parlance, this called Capacity Building.

Let’s come back to the case of India. Colonial India was governed as a dictatorship, although not a benevolent one. It was impressed upon the populace that foreigners, and people who are educated and trained abroad, get things done and others simply cannot do the same things. It was the classic ‘plantation attitude’. After independence, India had a great opportunity to change that attitude by indulging in capacity building. But again, here the price to pay was a long prolonged period to struggle, poverty, desperation, and avoidable deaths. For the Indian leaders, much like the NGOs in Haiti, this was too steep a price and went against all their rules of morality. So instead, they chose to adopt the benevolent dictator model of the more educated and better trained people running all the affairs within the government and not letting the common people learn to take care of themselves without the government.

So now, Indians continue complain that the government doesn’t provide electricity, doesn’t dig irrigation canals, and so on. The dependence over a benevolent dictator is now etched in India’s cultural memory, and it won’t be erased until people are forced to make lives better for themselves without the hope or expectation of the government (the benevolent dictator) lending any support. Real progress can happen only after that.

One is forced to wonder: why is Pat Robertson saying such things knowing fully well that he is hurting people through his statements and hate? There has to be a logical explanation for it, and I think I have found one. My explanation is based on three important assumptions: (a) Pat Robertson believes that Jesus died for everyone’s sins, (b) he believes that the end times is near ^[1], and (c) he is a capitalist^[2].

Now, given that Pat Robertson is a capitalist, he must believe that the capitalist economic principles can be applied everything in life, including sin. So according to him, there must be some smallest unit of sin (arguably the smallest unit corresponds to the quality of sin in the ‘original sin‘), and also that Jesus’s death is worth only so many (finite) units of sin. Given that the end times are around the corner — being a shrewd capitalist one needs to get the best ‘bang for the buck’, so to speak — Pat Robertson probably wants to make Jesus’s death more worthwhile by sinning as much as he can so that the quota of sins for which Jesus died may be used up.

After all, every ‘true’ Christian’s goal is to make Jesus’s death worthwhile (in that Jesus’s death should not be in vain). So, it turns out that Pat Robertson is actually out sinning to make Jesus’s death count for something! Now he also knows that you sin then you will probably go to hell, and yet he pursues this path of validate Jesus’s crucifixion. Could there possibly be a greater sacrifice?

^[1]In fact, in the 70s Pat Robertson has predicted that the world would end in 1982!

^[2]This is more of an inference, than an assumption, based on the fact that Pat Robertson is a businessman, owns a broadcasting station, and sells books for money.

• Know the organization you are donating to: It is very important that you understand where your money is going. If you are particular about your money going to Haiti and Haiti alone, then consider donating to a Haiti-based organization (like Yele). However, realize that the odds are that the sum total of the money that is going to be donated will probably exceed what is necessary urgently, and so although your intention was for the money to go to Haiti, if you are ok with the funds being diverted to another humanitarian effort, then consider donating to globally operating organizations like the ones listed in Charity Navigator. Regardless of the type of charity you choose, ensure that they are in a position to make good use of your donations, ensure that they understand what the situation on the ground demands and that they are up to those demands.
• Do not donate to Haitian government: To the best of my knowledge, the government is no longer functioning, and even if it is, it is one of the most corrupt organizations you can donate to.
• Can you pay half now, half later?: Like I mentioned earlier, the knee jerk reaction of people is to donate to help in disaster relief. In fact, various countries and corporations are pouring vast sums of money into the disaster relief. But disaster relief is only half the battle for the people from Haiti. After relief has come in, and the earthquake and its immediate aftermath has passed, Haitians have to start the long painful process of rebuilding their lives and their nation. Where is the money for that going to come from? Not from the other countries, and definitely not from the corporations, its going to be from you, through your donations! So keep some money aside to donate for the rebuilding efforts. Haiti will need the money in a few months from now and lots of it. Let the big corporations and rich countries bear a large portion of the burden of disaster relief because they are willing and able to do so. You will have to bear the burden of rebuilding the nation because the rich countries and corporations are unwilling to.
• Avoid donating in kind (prefer donations in cash): It is tempting to donate in kind because cash can be misused and swindled, but food and clothing less so and is more likely to reach the victims. However, realize that the food you get at your local super market and/or grocery store is not necessarily what can be consumed by the victims of the disaster. Our food relies on a fairly robust infrastructure to survive transportation and storage. Remember that Haiti currently has no such infrastructure to speak of. Also, the cuisine we eat at home is not necessarily what is eaten by Haitians. As far as clothing goes: again, the clothing that you get locally is suitable for the weather, climate, and surroundings in your area, not necessarily useful in Haiti. So when donating, please avoid donating in kind, consider donating in cash.
• Do not donate with ‘strings attached’: In a situation as volatile as the Haiti earthquake, it is very difficult to determine what each component of disaster relief is going to cost, so it is very important for the volunteers/relief specialists on the ground to have the discretion to spend as the need arises. Please keep that in mind while donating. Please don’t donate for your money to be spent on (say) orphanages alone, or hospitals alone. This severely constrains the effectiveness of your donated funds.
• Do not donate too little to too many: This is donation for a disaster, its not your investment portfolio. For your donation to be effective choose a few organizations and donate the largest amount you can to those charities. This will ensure that your funds have a greater impact on both the ground, and the longevity of the organizations themselves.
• Donate now and donate often: Do this for two primary reasons: (a) Victims will need a lot of help in the years to come, please be there for them then, like you are there for them now, and (b) the organizations that are providing relief right now need to stay solvent and functioning to be an effective aid group, and the only way they can be that is through your support and donations.

There are just some of things you need to take care of when donating to disaster relief. For more info, go to Saundra Schimmelpfennig’s blog.

If you cannot donate large sums, then consider donating via text message: [Source: Haiti earthquake: How to help - Rachel Maddow Show, via Patrix]

Donating via text message:

• Text HAITI to 90999
  American
  Donates $10
• Text HAITI to 25383
  International Rescue Committee
  Donates $5
• Text HAITI to 52000
  Salvation Army
  Donates $10
• Text YELE to 501501
  Yéle
  Donates $5
• Text HAITI to 864833
  The United Way
  Donates $5
• Text CERF to 90999
  The United Nations Foundation
  Donates $5
• Text DISASTER to 90999
  Compassion International
• Text HAITI to 20222
  The Clinton Foundation
  Donates $10

The donated amount will be charged to your cell phone bill.