Paternalism

* The attitude or actions of a person, organization, etc., that protects people and gives them what they need but does not give them any responsibility or freedom of choice.

* A system under which an authority undertakes to supply needs or regulate conduct of those under its control in matters affecting them as individuals as well as in their relations to authority and to each other.

Many times, in our efforts to help others, we create a dependency from the one being helped and on the one helping. In fact, it is often the case that westerners are looked upon, as solely, a support mechanism. This is known as a form of “paternalism” and we westerners, to some degree, have propagated this situation by merely writing checks thinking that can solve problems.As I travel around the world, mostly to the emerging parts of the globe, I am always asked by people to connect with them on Facebook, to which I generally succumb. A great deal of those connections turn into a barrage of private messages asking for financial support. Some of those are well intentioned people who are merely trying to survive a situation, others are merely trying to scam me out of money. For those well intentioned people, my heart goes out to them, but there is no way that I can personally attend to each of their needs. However, many of these people are my brothers and sisters in Christ and I am compelled to attempt to do something because, "If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and filled,' without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?" (James 2:15-16 ESV)Often it seems the right thing to do is just to continue to throw as much money as possible at the situation. In fact, we are so blessed in this country, it is actually the easiest thing we can do. It doesn’t take us out of our comfort zone, it requires little to no interaction, and it lets us show compassion without ever having to engage the problem. As I think about this, I am often drawn to this passage - "Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one." (1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 ESV)The apostle Paul says some interesting things in this passage in regard to our conversation here. First, he talks about the brotherly love being shown throughout all of Macedonia, which would lead you to believe that they are in some way helping each other out. Then he says they should aspire to work with their hands and be dependent on no one. It would appear that Paul is addressing, to some degree, the same conundrum we often find ourselves in – moving from aid to trade.At Kingdom Growers we wring our hands over this scenario every day. We are convinced we must act, while also being convinced we must help people come to a place where they, (our partners,) are dependent on no one. Our effort in this area is to involve people in trade. Through training, farmers learn to grow a better product so they aren’t dependent on sympathy, micro loans are secured so they can wait for the best price, new distribution networks are introduced, and competent efforts are made to market the fruits of their labor. When you buy our coffee you are linked in our endeavors with us.Buying coffee is pretty easy and we want you to do that, but engaging the problem is more difficult. Should you desire to engage the difficult, contact us to see how you can do that too.E.