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Story · Ajahn Brahm

Oxfam charged for the corrugated iron

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Oh What A Relief! | by Ajahn Brahm | 16-05-2013

1 min read

The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

an example of that which I I read when I was first a monk was uh a case of an organization which you may know, it's one of the biggest NGO aid organizations, Oxfam, who went into this the country of Guatemala uh during uh after some earthquakes which devastated uh many areas in Guatemala. And the notable uh exception to their relief effort was that they charged the people who received corrugated iron to to build their new houses. They charged them a small fee to buy the corrugated iron. And many people criticized them. "You're an aid organization. You should be giving these things out for free." But the fellow in charge of this group in Guatemala said, "No, listen." And they were charging maybe 5% of the the cost price you know, of the corrugated iron, so they could build shelters for themselves in the devastated areas. They're charging 5%, which was just a a token for what the thing really cost. But the man in charge said, "We don't just want to build them houses. We want to rebuild their self-esteem as well. So the people who rebuild their houses with a tiny bit of money, which doesn't know come nowhere near to covering even 5% of the costs, is so that when they've built their house, they can feel they have actually contributed

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 3:53 (to 5:31)

A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

After an earthquake, an aid agency charged villagers a token fraction of the cost of their roofing iron. Critics called it heartless; the director said they were rebuilding self-esteem as well as houses. Ajahn Brahm loved it. Compassion needs wisdom. Help people in a way that leaves their dignity intact.

In brief (our summary)

As a new monk Ajahn Brahm read about Oxfam's earthquake relief in Guatemala: instead of giving corrugated iron free, they charged about 5% of cost. Critics called it wrong for an aid agency; the local director said they were rebuilding self-esteem as well as houses — so people would feel they had contributed to their own recovery.

Teaching point

Compassion without wisdom flies in circles; wise aid empowers instead of creating dependence.

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Oh What A Relief! | by Ajahn Brahm | 16-05-2013 · 2013-05-19 · ▶ watch from 3:53 to 5:31 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly as captioned.

The narrative is Ajahn Brahm's own telling, quoted from the talk captions. The summary and reflection are Being Mindful Stories's editorial notes. Please credit the teacher and link the original talk. Markdown version

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