By Aly Callahan

January 30, 2010

Tim Klein, one of the directors of the world-famous documentary "What Are We Doing Here?" presented his film about the effects of foreign food aid in Africa Thursday Jan. 21 in Maginnes Hall. 

Last year, four cousins - Brandon, Nicholas, Daniel and Tim Klein - decided to quit their jobs and go to Africa for six months to find out why, after so many years of foreign aid, Africans were poorer than ever.

"I was surprised by how relatable the directors are. They were just normal, young people who were intrigued by the subject and wanted to learn more," Ann Girdano, '12, said. Girdano was part of a select group of students who went out to dinner with Tim Klein before the film showing.

The cousins funded the entire trip themselves: Cairo to Cape Town for six months, using only public transportation on a budget of $10 a day.

"Keep in mind we were approaching this as filmmakers, not experts. This is our experience. This is what we learned," Klein said to the Lehigh audience.

Before starting the film, Klein presented the group of viewers with a challenge.

"Often television presents Africans as helpless. Often when we see images of poverty we feel sorry for people; we want to help them. I challenge all of you to focus on listening to what they have to say rather than just feeling badly for them," Klein said. 

The 82-minute film began with Klein having a conversation with a local African man, who asked him what the goal of his movie was.

"We hopefully can allow your voice to be heard to people who would not normally hear it," Klein said.

"It is important to understand the root of the problems. They are complex things. Some of them are contributed by the Western countries themselves," said the local man. 

And thus began a journey of discovery by the four Klein cousins, who would soon realize that foreign food aid policies needed to be reformed.

The first stop for the cousins was Sudan. The film narrator noted the scarcity of food and the plentitude of guns in Sudan. 

"We need to help people grow food and produce food, not just give it to them," said a local man in Sudan. 

The next stop on the trip was Ethiopia. In this country, the Klein cousins found out that there was technically enough food to feed the children.

"Children were starving when there was no drought in sight," Klein said. 

The issue in Ethiopia is poverty, not climate. Food is being produced in Ethiopia; the people simply cannot afford to buy it. 

An Ethiopian man also told Klein and his cousins that when Europeans and Americans sponsor the children in their town, the government does not give the money directly to the children. Instead, the money goes to development interventions, based on the idea that everyone would benefit more if the money went to the community as a whole. In other words, child sponsorship programs that are so often advertized on American television programs may not be regulating where that money goes. 

"These are not easy problems to solve. And so often we hear celebrities and aid organizations say it is that easy to get a child out of poverty. And that is not the reality," Klein said after the movie.

The next stop along the filmed journey was The Wind of Hope, an orphanage for children who had lost their parents to AIDS. Four thousand people in the town of Wind of Hope in the Desert have AIDS. 

The director of the Wind of Hope orphanage insisted that unless organizations start monitoring and regulating where their money goes, increasing foreign aid is useless.

The Klein cousins next moved on to one of Africa's largest slums in Nairobi. The film showed a conversation with a teenage boy suffering from Tuberculosis. He said that, in his opinion, international drug aid for the Tuberculosis treatment is really helping. 

However, they also interviewed a family that explained they had to stop taking the anti-retrovirus pills because, taken on empty malnourished stomachs, they cause ulcers. 

"How do we convert money into good?" one of the cousins asked the night before they left Nairobi.

In the next part of the film, the cousins explained that before they left for Africa, they were warned to avoid Somalia at all costs. This, of course, only intrigued them more. 

They soon discovered that the northern part of Somalia had broken off from the rest of the country and formed what its residents call Somaliland.

"Let me tell you frankly, there will be no dictatorship in our country. We have taken the model of the Americans. No presidency will be longer than two terms," said the government representative that was interviewed in Somaliland. 

"We spent the next six days listening as they made their case about why they should be recognized as an independent democratic republic," Klein said.

The total budget for the country was 10 million dollars. The movie narrator noted that the creation of Somaliland shows the resilience of people.

"If Somaliland can, anybody can," the narrator said. 

The cousins then ventured through Rwanda and Malawi.

"Without tackling the political issues in many African countries, you cannot address the poverty issues," said an NGO director in Malawi. 

Capetown, South Africa was an interesting change of scenery for the Klein men. Here they encountered a group that used hip hop to preach young African empowerment.

The journey of the four Klein cousins ended in Capetown, where they reflected upon their journey.

"It had brought us face to face with human suffering," Klein said, "It also taught us that U.S. aid had not always helped."

"We time and time again encountered hope. And, with feelings of disappointment and optimism, the four of us were at odds: should aid be stopped or increased? Does the solution lie in business?" Klein saod.

The film concluded with the message that it is obvious that change is needed in Africa and there is no one better equipped to effect such a change than the suffering people themselves. 

After the film, Klein passed a petition around the Maginnes lecture hall that stated that in order to provide aid to Africa, the American government needs to purchase food from the African town to which they will be giving it. 

"I think that aid gets in between the people and their government. But, I still do believe it can do some good. But the goals need to be changed to be more realistic," Klein. 

African farmers cannot compete with free food from aid organizations, so by dropping American grown food in Africa, we are killing the native food production industry.

"There certainly is a lot to be done. And I think it comes down to personal relationships. I think the first step is to look at our government, companies, and aid organizations and make sure we are proud of how they are representing us overseas," Klein said. 

"Make a shift in the way you see African peers, don't look at them as a charity case," said Klein when asked what advice he would give Lehigh students. 

"In the wake of Haiti, understand and be aware of where you are donating your money. Research the organizations first. And do the same for donations to Africa," said Lisa Boyd, '10, vice president of the Global Union.

Source: Brown and White - Aly Callahan - January 30, 2010

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