My church sent missionaries over there and they dug wells and set up pumps showing the local heads how to work them and keep it all clean. They would dig a well and move on about every 2 to 3 weeks.
They didn't make it to the 4th well before someone from the first one came looking for them as the well had stopped working. Sent a guy back found the locals had sold the pump and well casing for scrap. Gotten like a 10th what it cost. Same thing happened at 2ed and 3ed wells. The missionaries dug the 5th well but but no pump and just preached the remaining time they were there.
That is the problem of giving valuable gifts to a people who are desperately poor. When it is a question of eating, the well is a resource to be liquidated. They have no idea what it cost---nor could they ever have any such idea. It is outside their experience. For them, carrying water by foot from the nearest stream costs nothing, but food must be paid for.
This means that the underlying economic situation must be improved, along with the local educational level. It's not just Africa. Criminals in the largest U.S. cities steal automobile catalytic converters simply to get the platinum. It's no different.
My church sent missionaries over there and they dug wells and set up pumps showing the local heads how to work them and keep it all clean. They would dig a well and move on about every 2 to 3 weeks. They didn't make it to the 4th well before someone from the first one came looking for them as the well had stopped working. Sent a guy back found the locals had sold the pump and well casing for scrap. Gotten like a 10th what it cost. Same thing happened at 2ed and 3ed wells. The missionaries dug the 5th well but but no pump and just preached the remaining time they were there.
That is the problem of giving valuable gifts to a people who are desperately poor. When it is a question of eating, the well is a resource to be liquidated. They have no idea what it cost---nor could they ever have any such idea. It is outside their experience. For them, carrying water by foot from the nearest stream costs nothing, but food must be paid for.
This means that the underlying economic situation must be improved, along with the local educational level. It's not just Africa. Criminals in the largest U.S. cities steal automobile catalytic converters simply to get the platinum. It's no different.