Teju Cole Do No Harm Summary

Teju Cole, in his essay that tackles what Western African rights activism have been missing, points out that Pultzer prize winner Nicholas Kristof, although “he has a good heart,” does not “see the patterns of power behind the isolated ‘disasters,’” Cole’s expresses his disagreement towards Kristof’s advocacy of just seeing “hungry mouths,” and how Kristof does not look at the reasons why these hungry mouth exists—that the solution is to simply fill the need as it is seen on the surface as soon and as fast as possible. This sort of attitude fuels the idea that Africa is a lawless, vast continent filled with people in need where “a nobody from America or Europe can go to Africa and become a godlike savior or, at the very least, have his or her emotional needs satisfied,” and that Westerners have flocked towards the continent under the guise of “making a difference.

He puts forth the principle of “Do no harm,” and it is important to consult those who are in need first before any help is extended in a situation caused by social injustice rooted in unfair and unjust government practices, poorly managed institutions, weird and ineffective policies, and “serious problems […] of law and order.” Problems which he describes as “both intricate and intensely local .” When foreign aid policies miss to give attention to these problems, the assistance extended end up highly likely to be effective only for a very short-run, is unsustainable, and will only contribute to local frustrations and dependence on IFIs for the recipients of the aid which, in turn, impedes the intrinsic development of the