KEY POINTS:
New Zealand economist Gareth Morgan's "Under the African Skies" tour - and his accompanying commentary - has been full of ill-informed and inaccurate observations, completely devoid of respect for the continent he is touring.
This week's victim was Malawi. Gareth Morgan is hugely privileged to be able to
bike through Malawi, the "warm heart of Africa". Warm heart notwithstanding, it's important to put forward some facts about the country.
Malawi's income a person is US$170 ($221) per year (compared to $26,427 in New Zealand). Life expectancy is 40 (compared to New Zealand's 79) and HIV and Aids is annihilating and making orphans of an entire generation.
It's been interesting listening to Morgan's running commentary on Paul Holmes' NewstalkZB breakfast show, but unfortunately, on his BMW motorcycle, he uses his position of privilege to cast moral judgments on Africa's people, its cultures and the aid organisations working hard to make a real difference there.
After only a day or two in Malawi, Morgan painted a picture of a country with a handout mentality, where the declining birthrate as a result of HIV and Aids is "a bit of a blessing". He described it as a country where they have natural resources "coming out their ears" but appear to have organisational problems, and where aid agencies are "corrupting the values of the younger people".
I listened with something like appalling fascination to this uninformed commentary about a country that is working its way into a self-sufficient future. A fresh perspective came from one of my staff, Dr Jude McCann, just back from his first visit to Malawi.
"I saw entire villages and communities who aren't asking for handouts. They're not asking for money or pity. They're looking after themselves and are proud of what they are achieving," he said.
Dr McCann spent time in Chata, an area in which World Vision has been working for more than 12 years.
"This community, which has a population of about 37,000, is amazing and I challenge Mr Morgan to look a bit deeper at the countries he's driving through."
Malawi, a country with a population of about 13 million located in the southeast of the vast African continent, has enjoyed for many years stability and peace but has struggled with a dangerously high HIV infection rate of more than 14 per cent.
The impact on a country's workforce of such a high infection rate, and the thousands of deaths caused by Aids as a result, is devastating. For Morgan to put this country's development issues down to "organisational" is to underestimate and undervalue the true damage caused by HIV and Aids.
On this issue, perhaps more so than in any other part of the interview, Morgan exposed his lack of knowledge and empathy.
Quite ironically, in the same talk Morgan praised the lowering of the birthrate by HIV and Aids - which occurs because women are dying in their thousands, unable to give birth to children or to bring up those they already have.
He also inadvertently highlighted one of the biggest and most worrying side-effects of HIV and Aids.
"You just see these 14, 15-year-old girls; they all seem to have babies on their backs."
According to Unicef, the number of Malawian children orphaned by Aids is more than half a million. World Vision knows from years of experience in Africa about the huge number of child-headed households. Children raising children because Aids has robbed them of their parents.
Morgan directed his most scathing comments for the aid agencies and non-governmental organisations working in Malawi - the number of them, the industry they've created, the work they're doing.
Malawians, he claims, say: "Oh, the way to make a quick buck at the moment is to get into a village and set up an orphanage."
Putting aside the reality that if there weren't so many orphans, "setting up an orphanage" wouldn't be an option, Morgan is criticising what he sees as he zooms past: "You get a crowd of people around the bikes and the young kids all the time just stick out their hand."
It's the aid agencies, he says, who are "defeating the value set of people".
With a literacy rate of 64 per cent, an infant mortality rate of 175 deaths per 1000 (New Zealand's is six per 1000) and nearly half the population living on less than US$1 per day, there's no denying Malawi is a country in need of assistance. It deserves the chance to provide for its children.
Development work must always keep long-term sustainability at the heart of what it does. It's the basis for World Vision's work, and we know it works.
We are thrilled when a community is ready, after 15-17 years of long-term development, to stand on its own feet.
"The people of the Chata community who I met last month are getting ready to kick us out," said Dr McCann. "After 12 years of working with them, they're just about ready to take on the continued development of their community without outside help.
"With the assistance of World Vision, the community itself is leading its development work. The people of the community have built wells and boreholes to reduce the chances of their children dying from preventable waterborne diseases.
"They have learned about basic health and sanitation and they have taught others about it, reducing the risk of malaria and diarrhoea-causing diseases. They have learned to harvest drought-resistant crops such as cassava and sorghum. They've learned about and put into practice animal husbandry techniques, and have been trained in agricultural practices that will provide food and income. They've sent their children to school. They've formed committees to offer support and care for the child-headed households in their community.
"They own their development, they are in control of their futures and they are proud Malawians. If Mr Morgan had visited Chata, he would not have seen one hand outstretched."
As for Morgan's claim about the abundance of natural resources, Dr McCann - who has a PhD in agricultural studies - says Malawi does indeed have water sources and good soil for the most part. But, he points out, had Morgan looked into Malawi's very recent history, he would have discovered that the country has spent the past three years dealing with, and recovering from, a devastating drought, resulting in crippling food shortages for many.
"It's easy to say one thing when you've seen and read very little of a country, but Mr Morgan should respect the people whose countries he is motoring through - and those listening to him here in New Zealand - and do his best to paint an accurate picture of the nations he is visiting," says Dr McCann.
Morgan said this week that many outsiders have a myopic - and often incorrect - view of Africa, but with only four of the continent's 53 countries behind him, he is already perpetuating incorrect and damaging stereotypes.
World Vision New Zealand, and the hundreds of Kiwis who sponsor Malawian children, know that the picture of Malawi - and Africa so far - painted by Mr Morgan is simply not accurate.
* Lisa Cescon is World Vision's New Zealand chief executive officer.
