I was there 5 years and found no one I knew making a ton of $. Nobody. The only thing I did see were Children International folks in big SUVs driving all over the place. So no, I don't trust the big guys at all. But there are many individuals and churches making a big difference.
Do they create dependency? That one can be argued both directions and I truly understand how it's perceived.
I am on the side that - YES they create dependency.. And like Aida - have little use for the contempt in which "Christians" hold both the lwas and other religions -
But - there is an entire LIBRARY on the scam -- "The Lords of Poverty " "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" -- OH SO Very Many Books...
We didn't hang out in the same circles -
Had you been to the cocktail parties with the folks who worked for the United Nations and US AID and big NGOs such as PLAN and PADF & listened to their problems on whether or not they would make a profit on the SUV (that the US taxpayers had paid to have shipped from Africa?)
Or been made aware of the salaries ? $200k certainly not unusual, plus all housing expenses - including electricity and guards, plus private school tuition for their children, plus paid vacations home, plus top medical insurance? -
You would have seen WHY they are RESENTED -- They Live Like PRINCES among the POOR
All that stuff is an industry... I would NEVER give to UNICEF again after I saw how the head of their operation lived, never again to SAVE THE CHILDREN when I learned that their entire Haiti program consisted of sending a group of children to school in the Dominican Republic, Never Again to the Heifer Project, when I personally met the man who was the supposed head of it..... Now I pretty much reserve my "charitable" donations to putting a few bucks into the folks camping on the side of the roads here.