If there is a question we get more than any other it's "Why did you do this project in Africa?" Often it's asked in an inquisitive manner -- people are curious. Other times, the question is the start of a vitriolic stream often coupled with finger-wagging or accusations that we are stupid or callous or worse. For instance, I got an email this week that read in part:
It seems to me that people like you are all alike. I'm now grouping you with people like athletes and movie stars, you all help someone else and forget about your own backyard (by backyard I mean us Americans, the people that are homeless and hungry right here in the GOOD OLD UNTIED STATES OF AMERICA) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The email (including the typo of Untied) ended with this:
Just like our government, our athletes, our movie stars, the mega rich and now you, TAKE ON THE WORLD BUT FORGET ABOUT YOUR OWN PEOPLE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, hurray for you guys, but it sucks to be an American.
We American's would be better off and probably living better if we moved to an impoverished country. Then we could get aid from THE GOOD OLD UNITED STATES OF AMERICA !!
Your new USA slogan should probably be:
U S A - UNIVERSALLY SCREWING all AMERICANS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't reply to those kinds of emails. Then after the Parade piece ran, a number of people posted comments telling us how stupid we are to listen to our kids' ideas about solving poverty problems overseas and how unAmerican we are in general. I almost never respond to any postings either; we feel our work speaks for itself and we're usually far more overwhelmed with the kindness of others than the flamethrowers.
But I decided to post a comment on the Parade site just offering up our family's thought process. I've copied my comment here. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Right approach? Should we reply more often, less often?
Hello Parade readers,
I wanted to quickly circle back because several people on this site have taken our family to task for deciding to create this family project in Africa. I probably should have done a better job writing the piece because to clarify:
For more than a decade, our family has worked here in Atlanta -- with Habitat for Humanity (I've been on the board for 6 years); with the Central Night Shelter; with the Atlanta Community Food Bank; with Cafe 458 (a restaurant for homeless men and women). Hannah works every Tuesday morning as a nurse's aide to indigent Atlanta children. In short, we continue to contribute both our money and time to these local organizations.
In creating this project, we felt that our family had the capacity to work both close to home AND in the world community more broadly. Thank you all for caring so deeply about the people in our country; we do too.
Respectfully, Kevin
There's plenty I could have added in. I could have said that we see the world and not just Atlanta or America as "our community." I could have said that isolationism isn't exactly a winning long-term strategy. I could have been more defensive and told people it was none of their business where we used our money. I'd welcome your thoughts.