The guilt of giving alms: A national study

A beggar in Nairobi's CBD. Only two in every 10 Kenyans who give to the needy set aside money for that purpose. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • In the survey, only 139 people had not given to the needy in the year before the survey. Some 1,852 said they had given to charity.
  • In the survey, 51 per cent of the 1,852 givers said they donated directly to those in need while 44 per cent said they donated through religious organisations.

The girl’s legs and hands are impaired, forcing her to move on her belly and bosom.

She uses her mouth to hold a cup into which she collects alms from passers-by.

Most mornings, she is at a public resting place between Nairobi’s KTDA Plaza and Moi Avenue, often appearing playful.

Given her disability, it doesn’t take long before some money is dropped into the cup by sympathetic pedestrians.

Elsewhere in Kisumu, at a corner of Jomo Kenyatta Sports Ground, is a woman with burn scars on her face also seeking alms. She is there most afternoons.

Studying the people who give money to the two — and to the needy cases countrywide — and those who ignore them and the reasons for doing so, makes for interesting reading.

Such is the study that Yetu Initiative, a Nairobi-based agency that coordinates donations, carried out between May and June this year.

The results reveal that only two in every 10 Kenyans who give to the needy set aside money for that purpose.

Otherwise, most Kenyans donate depending on what they have at that moment.

The survey covered all the 47 counties and interviewed 1,991 adults — 994 in urban areas and 1,047 in the countryside.

In the survey, only 139 people had not given to the needy in the year before the survey. Some 1,852 said they had given to charity.

Non-givers gave a raft of reasons for their decision, among them being too poor to give, distrusting those seeking help, and a belief that foreign donors were already helping.

Five per cent of the 139 ticked the box that stated, “I believe my donation will be used for other purposes and not to help those in need.”

SHYING AWAY
Commenting on those who said they did not believe in calls for donations, especially by organisations, Ms Rosemary Mutunkei, the director of Yetu Initiative, said charity firms should work on their public perception.

“What comes out very clearly is the issue of transparency; that this is an area we would need to work on as organisations looking to get support from Kenyans,” she told the Sunday Nation.

Asked what determines the donations they give, 512 of the 1,852 ticked the box: “The amount given is based on what I have at the time of need”.

Another 370 said they give depending on the amount the recipient needs.

Only 11 per cent selected: “I set aside a specific amount to give”, while another 11 per cent chose: “I give a proportion of my income.”

Such an unstructured way of giving, says a philanthropy expert, harms the needy more than it helps them.

Ms Janet Mawiyoo, the chief executive officer of the Kenya Community Development Foundation which promotes sustainable development of communities for social justice, says it is high time Kenyans structured the way they give to the needy.

“Helping poor people is actually a very complex thing. Many times, people help them and make them dependent although they thought they were helping them,” she said.

“When you just show up and quickly dish out stuff in the name of giving, you feel good about it but you’ve caused harm. It’s time we stopped causing harm.”

Related to the random donations is the issue of charity foundations, some of which are created solely to advance the founders’ interests.

From politicians to artistes to socialites, the people behind these foundations in Kenya are as different as the causes they seek to champion.

“We have many of these which have been registered but they are merely in the books and haven’t been able to move ahead. Running an organisation is not easy,” said Ms Mawiyoo.

MEDIA'S IMPORTANCE
In the survey, 51 per cent of the 1,852 givers said they donated directly to those in need while 44 per cent said they donated through religious organisations.

Some 333 more said they donated through the family of those in need, 259 said it was through fundraisers, 111 through international NGOs and 55 through social responsibility initiatives of their corporates.

Those who conducted the survey also asked the 1,852 givers what motivates them to help the poor.

Fifty-five per cent said they do so “to improve the condition or state of the beneficiary” while 10 per cent said it was to meet their own religious teachings.

The survey said the media is one of the channels through which people learn of causes to support, coming second to information from friends and family.

Some 159 respondents said they encountered needy cases in the streets.