1%CLUB – An item in the neverending list of “things that make me stabby” (or the road to hell is paved with good intentions).

I just came across this project at a Dutch website that seeks to pair volunteers and donors with charities. The project runs under the name “A very small positive point in the slums” and its goal is to create a school library in a Bolivian village. And yes, I see red when I come across stuff like this. I do understand the good intentions and I do understand that the project itself is a good thing, probably bringing improvement to the lives of the children in that particular village. However, the implication that there is nothing positive going on in these communities, the subtext that it is the enlightened participating Europeans who are bringing “a very small positive contribution” to an otherwise primitive and subjugated community is patronizing at best and reeks of typical European colonialism at its worst. I spent three quarters of my life in South American, scratch that, I was born there even. And let me tell you, these “slums” have more than a “small positive contribution” from well-intentioned Europeans going on. They are vibrant communities with self sufficient individuals that, what they lack in material resources they certainly make up in solidarity, imaginative solutions and the intellectual capacity and skills to live fulfilling lives on a day to day basis. I do agree that bringing books to children’s schools is a “good thing”. However, I wish they didn’t use the colonial narrative to “market” the benefits of contributing to such project.