Recently Bono, U2 frontman, made news because of a change in position from promoting aid as a solution to the poverty situation in Africa to a position of preaching capitalism as a solution.  I wrote about this very thing in a blog post called Uncharity  and am basing my plans for vocational training on this belief.  Aid feels good and it is relatively easy to pour support into a country to attempt to meet a need.  The problem is aid creates a cycle of dependency.  Investing time teaching entrepreneurial capitalism takes much longer and requires people on the ground, but this is a much more long term solution than aid.

Bono says, “Aid is just a stopgap, commerce [and] entrepreneurial capitalism take more people out of poverty than aid. We need Africa to become an economic powerhouse.”

Love him or hate him, Glen Beck made some comments about Bono’s change of heart on his show yesterday.  Beck says, “Here’s what Bono is saying. [Aid is for] an emergency.  You come in, and if there’s somebody that is hurting, if there’s somebody that needs help, and they can’t find a way to help themselves, then we as people — not American citizens  – we as humans have a responsibility and a right to go in and help others.”

“Bono has given aid and begged governments for so long – aid, aid, aid, aid, aid. And then he comes back ten years later, and he’s like, ‘This situation is not any better.’ And so he puts his brain in gear.

“Instead, give them that temporary relief, so they can get themselves back into shape, a little bit stronger. Then you slowly remove the aid from them, and they do it themselves. And then you have the resources to go give the aid to another part of the world, or another community, or another family… I am a fan of Bono because of this. He gets it,” he added.

I have held the view that Bono has come to realize for some time now and believe that the solutions to poverty is a hand up and not a hand out.  I’ve been a part of Habitat for Humanity and The Christian Men’s Job Corp because these organizations believe in giving a hand up to meet needs.  The vocational training program that I’m planning incorporates this viewpoint.  By investing time into men’s life, teaching them a skill, teaching them entrepreneurism, providing Bible study, discipling and providing micro loans is the key to solving poverty in Africa.

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