Fickle nature of aid programs
Olave describes a surge in popularity in social work, which when it fizzled out abandoned communities in need. She worries that aid organizations fail to finish the jobs they start.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Katushka Olave, December 9, 1998. Interview K-0659. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
- ALICIA ROUVEROL:
-
And when you said like some of those programs might have been supported
by UNICEF, were any of them US Aid programs, because I know some of
those were done internationallyߞ.
- KATUSHKA OLAVE:
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Yeah, there was a lot. It's a lot. And the bad thing of those
programs, and that's whyߞ.
- ALICIA ROUVEROL:
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Kind of problematic, some of them.
- KATUSHKA OLAVE:
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I think that was a period of time when we started doing this, when it
was called "popular participation," because all these
organizations they were coming andߞ. You
know what, it is kind of coming back around the circle, because now I
feel that there are a lot of organizations also here and projects, it
doesn't mean they are bad or hurting anybody, but just in the
communities, when I say "communities" I am not
referring only to Latinos, any other communities, using them as a toy to
do any project but you are not giving them any good. You just use them.
And that's the way they were feeling. And they feel community
when you just use them. You know, some of these organizations they did
really nice work, but then there was for a short period, and then when
their program or whatever, the project was ending they left and they
forgot. And so they left all these people with all these dreams, you
know hopes, with hopes, and that's what I don't
like.