Does Aid Really Aid?

I can't really answer the question, but have just read an impassioned piece on a blog,

New UK Government - Please, please DO cut overseas aid!!!which sees most aid money as wasted, or even sometimes doing more harm that good. It's worth reading, whether you agree or not. Here's the opening paragraph:

I may not be best placed to say this, as an expat wife living in Africa - but when I hear on the radio that the new UK Government have pledged NOT to cut foreign aid to developing countries, but instead will look to make cuts in other areas of public spending (IE nurses pay), my blood boils. In fact, absolutely HUGE cuts can be made in development budgets. After eleven years of living around here, I know that the sheer waste in this area makes you want to cry.

It's a subject that African Expat Wife (who seems to live in the same part of Nairobi as us, in Karen) has dealt with before, in fact more than once. And it's not an indictment of all attempts to help. She lists Turning Point Trustamong her favourite Kenyan charities (and I'd agree). It seems to be the big money, and the lack of local knowledge, that are the problems. [By the way, the links are triggering a new line for me - I'm not sure why]

In our daily lives here, the issue of who to help and when can be quite complicated. It turns out that we are more likely to help people we know and trust - not very surprising really. Being caught between wanting to be generous, and being scared of building dependency (or being conned) probably means we're not very consistent.