If You Give Him a Fish, He'll Eat For a Day

I was having a conversation with one of my lecturers regarding the situation of social work in Malaysia, and one thing of what she said kind of struck me and opened my eyes on what should have been obvious but neglected by helping professionals in Malaysia. Try to imagine what is the first thing you'd give to a homeless person, poor families, or aboriginal people? The ones that usually the media have portrayed are money, money, and money. We keep hearing the news that this big person, or authority, or ministers, or any people with names and titles come to visit the houses and give a generous amounts of charity. However, very little effort has been made to realize that money is not all that these disadvantaged people need.

So, list down basic needs in human's life. There can be physical, psychological and emotional needs. Physical needs can be in forms of materials, physical health, and shelters. Psychological needs can be mental health, self-esteem, and cognitive efficiency. Emotional needs can be related to the needs of having good intra- and interpersonal relationships with others. If you visit a family whose socio-economic status is well below what is considered standard, the first thing you might think to help was to give out a certain amount of money, wishing it'd help them go by for several days perhaps. But do you honestly think it's enough?

There is a famous saying I read on a wall of my previous university's library that says, "Give a man a fish, he'll eat  for a day, and you teach him how to fish, he'll eat for the rest of his life." This saying is very true. You see, teaching someone 'how to fish' can take on many forms other than teaching itself. As I mentioned above, there are other needs different than the physical ones, such as psychological and emotional needs. If money, money, and money is the only thing provided to these needy people, will it help provide for these needs as much? Maybe temporarily, maybe for a day, but I don't think it'll last longer.

As a starter, counseling services are very important too. And counseling is not just sit in front of the person and listen and give advice (although giving advice is not encouraged in professional counseling session), it is more than that. Counseling services should be able to open the eyes of the disadvantaged people the options that are available in their life that they can take to make a reformation. Counseling should be able to make them go out of the 'coconut shell' that they are stuck inside. They should be, then, taught how to 'fish' so rather than depending on charity, where they could actually provide for themselves. Therefore, this emphasizes on the importance of education. A major contribution to their condition could very well be their education level. This calls for the help from the authority that can enable them to get a decent education in terms of money, direction, and guidance counseling.

The basic point of what I'm trying to say is that provision must match needs. A person who needs shelter shall be given a shelter. A person who needs a job, shall be given the opportunity to provide for him- or herself. A person who needs psychological stability shall be psychologically stimulated by services in forms of counseling, therapy, etc. Therefore, evaluate what the real needs are then you'll know what to do next.