White Fathers of Silicon Valley

Between the Lions' Gate and the start of the Via Dolorosa in the Old City of Jerusalem lies a wonderful church, dating from Crusader times. Known as the Church of Saint Anne, it is a popular tourist stop because it overlooks the ancient pool of Bethesda, where Jesus healed an ailing man. The church itself, which also served as a madrassa is renowned for its remarkable acoustics, so that any visiting group that sings a hymn can sound like a celestial choir. I once loved visiting there to climb around the ancient pools and hear the tourists singing. My only problem was a statue near the entrance, showing a white monk surrounded by little African children, hugging him and pleading for his blessing. You see, the church is run by an order called the White Fathers of Africa, a group of brethren committed to "saving" the heathen Arabs and Africans. Colonialist condescension is alive and well, if only you know where to look.

It isn't that hard to find either. In a recent article by the BBC, Jimmy Wales speaks of a trip to India, where he met a young man who used Wikipedia to pass an exam. "Wow, that's like really something," he commented, "Here I am standing in a street with mud and a cow and we had touched his life in a positive way. That was pretty cool." While no one denies that poverty has a devastating effect on so many people in so many countries, there seems to be this naïve belief that the answer lies in quirky technological advances—that laptops and wikis will pave the way for a brighter future, and who better to bring them to the miserable masses than the successful white fathers of Silicon Valley.

Rachel Marsden said it better than me when she commented on ValleyWag: "How about we get the "little black kids in Africa" some, oh I don't know, perhaps some RUNNING WATER, and maybe some vaccinations, before we start focusing like uneducated, naive idiots on the fact that they don't have access to the "world's largest compendium of pickup lines"? Mommy's dying of malaria in the corner of the hut, but HEY, life's fabulous because I can read all about how John Seigenthaler killed Kennedy on a computer whose screen I can't see because I have no electricity!"

One hundred years ago, colonial powers and the Church believed that they had all the answers to the problems of the developing world. "Embrace us, and we will save you." Today there are some in Silicon Valley who feel that their gadgetry is the new answer. While I believe that there are wonderful aid organizations out there, I am nonetheless cynical of those who offer solutions without first asking the very people who they are ostensibly trying to help. "What do you need? A goat? Don't have any. How about a laptop?" "Clean water? So passé! Try this wiki instead!"

I'll end with a quote from a book that Erik Möller first introduced to me back in 2002. In The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice Christopher Hitchens writes: 'The rich world likes and wishes to believe that someone, somewhere, is doing something for the Third World. For this reason, it does not inquire too closely into the motives or practices of anyone who fulfills, however vicariously, this mandate. The great white hope meets the great black hole; the mission to the heathen blends with the comforting myth of Florence Nightingale. As ever, the true address of the missionary is to the self-satisfaction of the sponsor and the donor, and not to the needs of the downtrodden" (pp. 49–50).

P.S. I have changed the donation widget to reflect Rachel Marsden's comments. Here is a chance to help provide clean water to people in Uganda. Thanks for helping.