I was very struck by this article by the BBC’s Lara Pawson, about the behaviour of ex pats living in Africa.
When aid agencies like the UN’s World Food Programme move in, African administrations tend to be let off the hook. But who can object? They’re only there to help. The aid worker goes to Africa to care for the African, to make the African healthier and more democratic. Perhaps this explains why many expatriates – even a large number of those who are in Africa to ‘do good’ – so often resort to behaviour and attitudes that reveal a superiority complex reminiscent of colonialism.
