The white helpers

"Don’t bite the hand that feeds you" or "the road to hell is paved with good intentions"?

The year is 2002, and in the southern parts of Africa 12 million people were at the risk of dying from hunger according to the Red Cross. Trying to fathom the scale of such a disaster is next to impossible: twelve million people is a number so large that most people have no basis of comparison. But at the same time such a large number sparks the will to help. And so Norway starts a big operation to send two hundred white trucks to Africa to help with distribution of food.

White paint was donated to paint the trucks chosen for the mission, as were fuel and spare parts. And transport aboard a large carrier ship was given to the operation as well. All were set for a humanitarian success-story. And the media followed up with reports of success as the white trucks delivered food to areas previously unreached. All the while the bulk of the trucks were still stuck at the port where they had arrived: the papers for the trucks were not in fact ready, and they sat there waiting. And drivers had to be trained to operate trucks with the wheel on the wrong side. Probably an honest mistake…

So why the big commotion? It’s all about the trucks that were sent. They were old. Up to forty years old. Decommissioned by the Norwegian military during the nineties and awaiting disassembly. Veteran trucks. Those were the trucks the Norwegian Red Cross decided to send to Africa - with a fresh coat of white paint.

As mentioned the trucks got hold up at arrival. One of the reasons for that was in fact that they were not allowed to drive through South Africa, as they were deemed a safety risk as well an unwelcomed pollution source. They ended up being shipped by train out of South Africa. And during the nine first months (deemed the most critical) the trucks had transported well under 20% of their initial target.

Evaluations of the project concluded that under no circumstances were the costs of running the veteran trucks under twice that of locally available commercial transport. Not that any such messages were conveyed by the Norwegian Red Cross to the foreign ministry who continued to pour money into the ‘successful’ project. The latest trucks to be shipped left Norway the Easter of 2006.

Today the majority of the trucks sent to various parts of Africa sit idle in parking lots or automotive graveyards waiting for disassembly. The few that are still in use have numerous breakdowns and are in constant need of repairs. A mechanic working on the trucks said it like this: send ten trucks out on a given mission and expect four not to make the trip. Not to mention they use more fuel and carry less load than comparable means of transport.

It’s time the myth “Humanitarianism works, by definition” was laid to rest. 



Source: the TV2 documentary “De hvite hjelperne” and this article (norwegian)