Filmmaker Tim Klein examines poverty in Africa
The piece explores problems with foreign aid.
Published Feb. 12, 2010
Filmmaker Tim Klein spoke Wednesday night at MU after a screening of his film "What Are We Doing Here?" a documentary about the problems with foreign aid in impoverished African countries.
Invisible Children at Mizzou, Americans for Informed Democracy, the American Association of University Women and the women's and gender studies department coordinated his visit.
Klein filmed in Africa for six months with his three cousins on a budget of $10 per day for food, lodging, transportation and communication.
Klein, who previously ran a tennis club in the summer and wrote freelance on the side, said he and his cousins quit their jobs to go to Africa. They funded the project themselves instead of waiting for a grant.
"To fund the film yourself is not necessarily the most economical way of creating a documentary," Klein said. "I think it has a lot of positives, but the financial end isn't one of them."
Klein started the project because he felt frustrated with the way Africa was portrayed.
Klein said he left Africa thinking, "Wow, this is a great place. People are struggling, but people aren't waiting for a handout."
"What Are We Doing Here?" explores the many problems with foreign aid and questions whether giving money to impoverished countries hurts peoples' situations more than it helps. It also underlines the need for aid to help with development and self-sufficiency in food production, rather than just funding food-drops. Klein and his cousins also investigated where charity organizations' money is actually going.
"We approached this not as experts, but as filmmakers and journalists," Klein said.
Klein said the solution is for foreign aid to buy food locally.
"Food aid probably has a purpose," Klein said. "From purchasing from within, you help local markets."
Another possible solution introduced in 2005 is micro-finance, which gives people small loans, starting at just $10, to help them start their own small businesses and work towards self-sufficiency. Klein said micro-finance is one of the most positive ways of giving money.
Amy Sharland said she came to the screening because of her interest in global issues and documentary films.
"Something that really surprised me in the film was the adopting or sponsoring a child in Africa," Sharland said. "I didn't realize how corrupt or misleading that program was. My family's always participated in that, and so that was kind of disappointing to me."
AAUW, a new women's professional organization at MU, helped organize the screening.
"We got funding from the women's and gender studies department and AID, and so between that and Tim's initiative, we just put it together," AAUW President Ilana Weiss said.
Invisible Children at Mizzou advocates rebuilding schools, empowering Ugandan women and ending the abductions of children forced to fight as soldiers.
Invisible Children at Mizzou Co-President Brandon Schatsiek said if they can obtain the permits, the organization plans to host a camp-out event on either Stankowski Field or Francis Quadrangle with four local bands and screen a documentary called "Go" about the developments in Uganda. They will build a shantytown out of cardboard boxes to raise awareness about problems in Africa.
"This film showed that just throwing money at the problem doesn't solve anything," Schatsiek said. "We need to figure out the best way to do this."
Americans for Informed Democracy sponsored Klein's multi-state tour, which brought him to MU, his 20th screening in the past month.