tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875365454966245098.post376204419161754217..comments2023-06-11T13:12:20.435+01:00Comments on The Anger of a Quiet Man: This is why we should not be giving foreign aidQuiet_Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575652127079681825noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875365454966245098.post-76995334198776725932013-08-12T17:35:50.349+01:002013-08-12T17:35:50.349+01:00'kleptocracy' is not in the dictionary - b...'kleptocracy' is not in the dictionary - but it bloody well ought to be because that one word sums it all up beautifully...Dioclesehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08139646438543954337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875365454966245098.post-12756928781612737202013-08-12T12:08:38.620+01:002013-08-12T12:08:38.620+01:00Absolutely - begins at home.Absolutely - begins at home.James Highamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14525082702330365464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875365454966245098.post-70867274972335585212013-08-11T22:46:21.733+01:002013-08-11T22:46:21.733+01:00I grew up and lived in Zambia, I've seen the w...I grew up and lived in Zambia, I've seen the waste and chronic dependency 'foreign aid' causes. So-called 'foreign aid' is a recipe for disaster. The 'give-give-give' sort of aid is completely destructive.<br />I have, however, seen one sort of aid which did work and it involved no 'giving' whatsoever. It involved a group of about twenty young men who purchased a small farm in the middle of an area farmed by local Zambians who followed traditional agricultural ways. The twenty young men didn't preach new methods to the Zambians, they just farmed, using identical implements and crops as the Zambians. <br />Their methods differed. They didn't plant the maize (Zambia's staple crop) in rows, they planted their maize in large (100 feet or so in diameter), shallow hand-made basins to retain rainwater. That one change increased their crop. The next year the Zambian farmers followed suit. Why? Because they'd seen the advantageous result of planting in such a fashion.<br />The next year the twenty young men spent the dry season scattering chicken and cattle dung over their maize basins. The increase in productivity was noticed by the local farmers who, in the fourth year did exactly the same, with similar results. <br />In the fifth year the twenty young men grew an entirely new type of maize seed, with spectacular results. They harvested all of their maize and gave it to the local farmers as seed for the following year. The twenty young men then left and went back home to Israel. They left behind the most productive maize growing area on the Zambian Copperbelt. <br />It still is, over thirty years later.selsey.stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12531315051208210724noreply@blogger.com