Okay, before I step into this one let me get something straight so no one gets their feelings hurt. I believe there are two basic “Hearts of Compassion” a person can use to view people in need – the “Mercy Heart” and the “Justice Heart.”

The “Mercy Heart” sees suffering and says, “That is wrong. I love those people. God loves those people. I must do whatever it takes to relieve their suffering RIGHT NOW.”

The “Justice Heart” sees the same suffering and says, “That is wrong. I love those people. God loves those people. I must do whatever it takes to make sure they suffer like that NEVER AGAIN.”

Don’t miss the difference. It’s not subtle, at all. It is profound… “Right Now” or “Never Again.”

And though, at times, every person is capable of expressing both “Hearts,” we overwhelmingly default to one or the other. We can’t help it. It’s the way we were created, and both ways are equally valid and valuable. There is no right or wrong here.

I give this caveat because around the subject of “When Helping Hurts,” relationships can be strained or even lost among equally loving people who have been wired with different “Hearts of Compassion” with which they view those in need.

I want to be clear that having one or the other of these “Hearts” is not a measure of one’s compassion. It is an expression of one’s compassion according to one’s wiring – equal but different. This is an important precursor to the “When Helping Hurts” discussion because without it, we may lose our way in a sea of emotions on our journey to serve.

Because most of the ways we hurt those we long to help are some form of enablement or paternalism, the following must be our “Golden Rule of Helping.”

“Do Not Do Things for People That They Can Do for Themselves.”

Now, those of you with a “Mercy Heart” are saying, “But…”

And those of you with a “Justice Heart” are saying, “Absolutely!”

Neither of you is wrong. That’s why I started this post the way I did. Stick with me.

The key to finding our way forward is in defining three categories of actions that we could take to help those in need – Relief, Rehabilitation and Development.

Relief is an urgent and temporary provision of emergency aid to reduce immediate suffering. This is the Band-Aid that stops the bleeding. Relief is best used in the immediate wake of a natural disaster like a hurricane, tsunami or earthquake or in the wake of a human disaster like war or economic collapse.

Rehabilitation is restoring people to the positive elements of their pre-crisis conditions. This should begin even before the Relief is completed.

Development is the process of ongoing change that eventually allows people to be the solution to their own problems.

When we deploy the wrong category of help for a particular situation we ALWAYS hurt those we are trying to help.

Unfortunately, “Rehabilitation” and/or “Development” are rarely used. The overwhelming tool that gets deployed time and time again to try and help people is “Relief.” Long after “Relief” is required, “Relief” is still given.

The classic example for Americans is our welfare system. Though at times, welfare provides the needed “Relief” it was originally designed to provide, it most often catastrophically hurts those who participate in it because, quite simply, it breaks the “Golden Rule of Helping.” Through enablement and paternalism, welfare does things for people that they could do for themselves… AND IT’S KILLING THEM… one generation at a time.

Let me say it again. When we deploy the wrong category of help for a particular situation we ALWAYS hurt those we are trying to help.

So why is it that we rarely deploy anything but “Relief” to help the materially poor even when “Relief” is rarely needed? Well this gets me back to the earlier discussion of “Mercy Hearts” and “Justice Hearts.”

A “Mercy Heart” is almost perfectly wired to deliver “Relief” because they see suffering and respond with such amazing energy and compassion that incredible amounts of “Relief” are brought to bear on a problem.

A “Justice Heart” is almost perfectly wired to deliver “Development” because they see suffering and want to strategically build the community’s indigenous capacity to solve its own problem.

And when it comes to “Rehabilitation,” both “Mercy Hearts” and “Justice Hearts” can be a great fit depending on the exact scenario.

Unfortunately, often “Mercy Hearts” are so energized by providing “Relief” that they provide it long after it is helpful. And because they were first to arrive and therefore have control of most of the resources, it is very difficult for “Justice Hearts” to get engaged in “Rehabilitation” and/or “Development” when the time is right.

This is why many “Relief” projects end up hurting the very people they set out to help. Haiti is a great example of this. Prior to the recent earthquake, more “Relief” aid per person was going to Haiti than any other place on earth. And this had been going on for decades with little evidence of progress and lots of evidence that it was actually making things worse. Let’s hope this time “Rehabilitation” and “Development” will be appropriately deployed.

As for Rwanda, the country is crying out for “Development.” And because of that they are getting a flood of “Justice Hearts” into the country to join the “Mercy Hearts” that have been here for years doing some great and much needed work.

One of my favorite quotes from Rwanda’s President, Paul Kagame, is, “I can tell you exactly how many billions of dollars the West has given to Africa for poverty “Relief” over the last 40 years. I just can’t tell you any real and lasting difference it has made.”

Musanze Inc is in Rwanda to focus on Development.

Now, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t still some very helpful places in Rwanda to provide “Relief” and “Rehabilitation” so there is no shortage of need for both “Mercy Hearts” and “Justice Hearts.” But the people and the government of Rwanda are very determined to be the solution to their own problems, and we are very determined to help them do exactly that.

(Footnote: If you want to learn more, “When Helping Hurts” by Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett is an excellent resource. They have done a masterful job of pulling together the best thoughts on the subject and presenting them in a very useful format.)

We have been on the ground in Rwanda for a few days now trying hard to get our little house livable so we can get started on our purpose here. These have been some of the most chaotic days of my life… WOW! And I love chaos. Fortunately, we have had some invaluable help from both Rwandans and Expatriate Americans (Expats) who live in Rwanda. We couldn’t have done it nearly as quickly and easily without them.

If you’re interested in some humorous details from my wife’s perspective about our life here, please check out Cheryl’s BLOG at http://ccrainey.blogspot.com. She will make you both laugh and cry.

I wanted to begin my blogging with a brief explanation of why we are so passionate about Musanze Inc’s tagline – “Confronting Poverty with Opportunity.”

Before you begin to help the materially poor who live in chronic poverty, you must first decide what you are going to help them do and how are you going to help them do it. I know that seems painfully obvious, but it is a critical first step that many forgo. Just jumping in and helping anywhere you see a need can actually do more harm than good. (More about “When Helping Hurts” in a future post.)

For us, it is about helping those in need become the solution to their own problems. It is not for us to decide what their future should be. That is for them to decide. It is not for us to do things for them or do things to them. It is for us to listen and learn as they express their “Hoped for Future.” It is for us to come alongside their “Present Reality” helping them develop their indigenous capacity to be the solution to their own problems.

Yes, they have an incredibly difficult “Present Reality,” one that is almost unimaginable for someone living in the developed world, but they also have an equally incredible “Hoped for Future” – one that would inspire even the most cynical of observers. They hope for a community that provides for its own needs. They hope for a community that allows its citizens to unleash their full potential. They hope for a community that is free, just and prospering from the fruit of its own labors.

So how then do we help?

There are three categories of needs that the materially poor have. The first category is Health – things like food, water, medical, shelter, clothing and sanitation that allow every citizen’s body to be developed to its fullest.

The second category is Education – things like reading, writing, arithmetic, science, professional skills and trade skills that allow every citizen’s mind to be developed to its fullest.

And the third category? … What do you do with a sound mind and a sound body that builds a successful community? A sound body alone allows you only to exist. A sound mind alone allows you only to think. It is the third category that allows you to achieve your “Hoped for Future.”

The third category is Opportunity. Without opportunity there is no positive way forward. No sustainable future. No possibility for you to be the solution to your own problems.

I am in no way demeaning a sound mind and a sound body. On the contrary, those are absolute necessities to be able to take advantage of opportunities, but if the help stops at health and education then, believe it or not, that help may actually make things worse. Let me explain:

If you have helped a chronically poor community to be healthier, then you will have directly increased the population of that community at a rapidly expanding rate because if less are dying and lives are longer then more and more people are alive to tax the community’s resources. Without a corresponding increase in opportunity, how can that community provide for itself? It can’t, so it’s only option is to hold out its hand and beg for the help it needs to provide for its increasing population.

In a similar way, it’s possible to harm a chronically poor community if all you do is educate its people. This phenomenon is known as “The Brain Drain” because, once educated, the “Best and Brightest” leave their chronically poor communities at a staggering rate. They leave to find a better life. Why do they leave? Because they can! Most of us would too.

A small percentage will stay out of loyalty, duty and commitment but because there are so few of them, they are, in reality, just “taking one for the team.”

A small percentage will stay and use there “Best and Brightest” gifting in a predatory manner. They take advantage of their less able neighbors to make their own life better with no attempt to relieve the suffering of their neighbors. Their influence and success is directly dependent on the suffering of their neighbors so they have no interest in relieving it.

Having your “Best and Brightest” uneducated, around and helping is better than having them educated and gone. Even uneducated, they are a big asset to any community.

So what’s the answer? How does a community increase its indigenous capacity even as its population increases? How does a community keep the majority of its “Best and Brightest” around even after they are educated?

… Opportunity …

Without opportunity, a community has no ability to self-determine its future and bring that vision into reality under their own energies and abilities. How could they?

Opportunity is how a community meets the needs of a growing population.

Opportunity is how a community retains its “Best and Brightest.”

Opportunity is how Musanze Inc will endeavor to confront poverty.

Stay tuned for details…

Caveat: You may have asked, “What about their spiritual needs?” Great Question! I’ll explain more fully later, but for now, let me be crystal clear. Without a proper understanding of the ultimate authority in the universe and what that authority is calling them to achieve, no community can thrive. And without a personal relationship with the Living God, no person can thrive. Helping people have worldly success without helping them have a right relationship with God is little help in the eyes of eternity.