In mid-2019, CivSource Africa, took to the streets of Kampala to find out whether people knew the term ‘philanthropy’, whether they could name a philanthropist and whether they considered themselves philanthropists.
Several people stumbled over the word. ‘Phila what?’ they would ask us, with quizzical looks on their faces. When we would explain the word and ask them for examples of philanthropists, they almost always mentioned the ‘usual suspects’ – i.e. often white, Western, rich men. Most people we randomly interviewed had either given or been recipients of generosity from others. However, they did not equate their acts of giving to philanthropy. In fact, one person even asked us if there are any philanthropists in Uganda.
What we quickly realized was that philanthropy though a foreign word, is not a foreign concept. The African embodiment of our giving spirit and generosity is Ubuntu. We had to learn how to break down the word philanthropy and hold it back up to the people, like a mirror, so that they could see themselves, see their image as generous people, and thus count what they give as important.
Philanthropy, a Greek word meaning ‘love of humanity’, at some point became conflated with and confused as the preserve of people with a lot of money. Thus, people with less means and less money do not see their acts of love of humanity as philanthropy. This is worsened by the fact that most philanthropy that gets counted and celebrated globally is usually that that flows from ‘the West to the rest’ - from Western Capitals, to lower income countries around the world. When that kind of giving is gloried, it pits it against non-monetary forms of giving, leaving people who don’t have money thinking that they aren’t doing actors of philanthropy.
As the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the world, and as governments everywhere implemented lockdown measures, we started to hear more about the giving that was happening. In Uganda, reading of a list of givers to the COVID-19 effort became a common feature of our President’s addresses to the nation. At CivSource, we made the decision to document and tell the stories of this giving. We documented stories of corporate giving, giving from high net-worth individuals as well as stories of everyday people, standing in solidarity with their fellow Ugandans.
The stories ranged from the kindness of a nurse, who helped push a patient to a hospital in a wheelchair, when there were movement restrictions under lock down. We shared the story of a 16-year-old girl who gave 50,000 UGX (the equivalent of 15 USD), to the COVID-19 task force of her district. She specifically wanted her money to buy fuel to enable pregnant mothers to be driven to hospital. In another story, a young boy sold a few of his rabbits that he keeps as part of an income-generating project. He availed this money to his District COVID-19 Task Force. In yet another story, a group of young people helped fetch water for the elders in their community. Since hand washing was a key message for COVID-19, the youth wanted to ensure the elderly had water. And the stories go on and on!
We compiled a first volume of ‘Generosity in the Time of COVID-19’ and it is available on our website www.civsourceafrica.com. The second volume will come out soon.
In compiling these stories, we made sure to showcase the broad spectrum of giving of time, talent, and treasure. We wanted to send the message that all giving counts. We documented giving of huge sums of money, all the way to those who gave from the little they have.
Building and strengthening philanthropy across the African continent begins by recognizing and naming the big and small ways that generosity happens all day every day. Building and strengthening philanthropy across Africa begins by people noticing and naming themselves as givers, realizing and embracing the fact that philanthropy is not an exclusive club. We can all be philanthropists.
Jacqueline Asiimwe
CEO, CivSource Africa
