Some of the principle concerns that Linda Polman, writer of The Crisis Caravan, has an entire chapter dedicated simply to how the misuse of funds can aid a war. She gives many examples, talking about how warlord would force humanitarians to give them a certain percentage of their help that they came to give. Often times, groups of rebels or militia would hide out of the road every few miles and would lay out wooden planks with nails and wouldn’t let you by without some sort of donation, which could easily just be a loaf of uncut bread or a bag of rice. One of the principle concerns of Polman involves how the organizations that donate aid towards affected areas like Eastern Congo, Liberia, and Afghanistan would actually have to donate a certain amount of funds towards the tyrants in the area, or they would be killed. In certain cases where these organizations would try to setup a center for help, tyrants or warlords in the area would hike up prices to generate more revenue, so that any volunteers that would pay for say lodging and food and shopping would actually be helping the extremist forces that caused the mess the aid organizations were trying to help. The most alarming thing that comes about this can be related to what is known as the trickle-down effect, where something happens at the beginning may affect the end. The reason I bring it up is because it seems that anyone involved with the process of helping those who need it in aid organizations takes their own fair share of the money or supplies, including both warlords and the aides themselves. Whatever is left over is given to those who truly needed the original amount of supplies and help, because the rest was taken by those who don’t need it.
The reason that Linda Polman says that “aid organizations are business dressed up like Mother Teresa” is because of the fact that these organizations are actually dressed up or made to look like they are using all the money that they have to help the people. For warlords who need to feed their soldiers with these food or supplies given by these organizations, the aid agencies will look like Mother Teresa more and more. Polman explains how journalists automatically approve of any aid organizations in developing or war-stricken countries, because the aid organizations are doing good work. But if there was an organization that was setup in say England or America or Netherlands, then journalist would question every single aspect of the organization, from whether or not the volunteers have certificates for their jobs to how much each person was going to be paid and whether or not any money was being siphoned by higher ups. The reason Polman says that aid organizations are dressed up like Mother Teresa is to make them look like everything that they have is being used the correct way, but in reality, most of what they have is not. Consider the previous part about warlords in Eastern Congo or Liberia, who would demand something close 30% or more of the organizations funds to even be allowed to setup and help the people they were there for. Aid organizations don’t outright say these things, and in fact refuse to acknowledge that they essentially have to pay their way into the zones that they are trying to help. As mentioned above, warlords and organizers take what they want before any help can be given out to those in need.
What journalists, the public, and the government have to do to make humanitarian aid more successful is demand that they explain exactly just how and where all the money that they the spend goes, and to who it may benefit. At the same time, what we can do is ask the aid workers questions. Ask them who they help, and how exactly they benefit. Ask them if when they supply food to people, is it warlords, innocent victims, or maybe both of them? Ask them why is it that their funds and supplies and money often times goes “missing”. If they happen to mention how warlords take portions of all of the above, do they know that they are basically funding a war? If anything, these aid workers would eventually have to admit that it is near impossible for them to keep track what they end up giving to the warlords, in exchange for safety and permission to help those in their controlled area.
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