Dear Mr. Brandl !

Congratulations to your article - I witnessed last year, that some of LMC programmes are "Potjemkin villages". I wonder, how the Churches and Mission Societies in America and Europe are not following up the money they donate the Lutheran Church in Tanzania through LMC. Your story is just an example for a wrong realisation of a well-minded approach in inter-church co-operation !

Yours Sincerely

Liz Seymour

Dear Liz Seymour,

I hear again and again, that this is just one of the Potjemkin villages in the LMC and other organisations.

This is the trouble of many countries: Help rather increases dependency and nepotism, violation of human rights than it reaches the poor! Not always but much too often.

Well minded approaches indeed! But the resitance to accept that "help" ends up on the wrong side and does more harm than good is growing.

I think some of the missions and "supporters" are feeding criminal structures in developing countries. They have been told and given all the evidences (which they should have anyway as donors with good documentation), but their reaction is rather blackmailing, rumor spreading, lying and neglecting the protesting local civic society in Africa.

I think this nonsens has to stop. The poor are no playground for neo-colonialism and/or do-gooder feelings. They need professionalism, monitoring, controlling, independent audits (it cannot be accepted that the lutheran church and supporting missions are investigating their own frauds in order "to prevent harm from the church" while the funds are stolen from the dying poor and while the violation of the human rights go on since months and years now). They need outside investiagtions, open discussions and CONSEQUENCES (with highest speed).

Criminals should be taken to court not under protection of the church. And missions should give out figures to the betrayed church groups and donors who collected funds in order to help the poor.

They should present their plans how they will change the situation instead of trying to come down on the people whose "sin" is to talk about this situation.

Rainer