This morning I passed by our community's town hall, down in the centre of the village between the church, police station and shop. In the newly brick-paved yard, people were standing around looking at a large stack of large cardboard boxes. I stopped and spoke to the town the clerk, who told me that the boxes contained aid from Austria. Then he told me that I should take one, after all everyone else is getting a box. I said that I'd give it to my neighbours, because they have children. But I was told that all the children will receive similar parcels in school. Given the size and weight of the boxes, the smaller children might struggle home.
I took my box home and opened it, finding soap, cocoa, vitamin pills, crayons, colouring books, and a variety of packaged foodstuffs. (I'd hoped for coffee, of course. Whisky would be a bit much to hope for.) It's quite a big box, around 40 x 40 x 40cm. I'll pass it on to my neighbours anyway, their children will appreciate the goodies. They aren't poor, very few people in the village are poor, and everything in the box is available in the village shop.
I wonder what is behind all of this? Just what were the donors told? Who did they think would be the recipient? Who are the organisers, and why did they choose my village? Were these Christmas boxes that were delayed? It amazes me that, in 2007, with Romania in the EU, food parcels are still being handed out. Moreover, handed out unquestioningly in relatively well off villages where poverty simply is not a problem.
Do the donors think that we are poor? Are they trying to help us, or to make us like them? (Which, taken to the extreme, would mean making us complacent, increasing obesity levels, and giving us big cars to drive.) There was no note in the box, no attempt to prosyletise, so that isn't the motive. The mayor is too canny to disburse the donors of their ideas, after all his popularity is boosted by handouts, and anyway why look a gift horse in the mouth?
How much did the donors pay to whatever charity sent the boxes? 5 Euro for transport? 10 Euro? If it costs one or two thousand Euro to send a truck, and a thousand boxes fit inside the truck (that would be about right for a large curtain-sided truck), then someone has made some money. (Assuming that Austrian charities behave like some British charities that come to mind, raking money in with their "shoebox appeals. We've seen those shoeboxes in the village too. I have to say it: the Austrians are far more generous in the quality of the food that they donated. Good quality cocoa. Milka chocolate. Not bad at all.)
So there we are. In the eyes of Austrians, Romania is still a "poor country" whose inhabitants "need" food parcels. As a tour operator, I bring visitors to see a “poor country” where "much needed" (a silly and over-used term) so-called aid is distributed willy-nilly. Maybe it is just another ploy by Austria to persuade “poor” Romanians to stay at home rather than heading westward in search of work? A bribe of food to stay at home. If so, it has failed.
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