More than Me

Very impressed by the investigative story by Finlay Young. It is extremely compelling and, I am angered by the new details and background information that I wasn't privy to before but it also falls into line with what I’ve heard in the last few years. I feel I read the actual report finally, one that confirms all I’ve heard and sensed over the years. 

More than Me seems to have got away with it. For being incompetent and unqualified, for raising funds from abroad on the basis of white-saviour marketing, and in the end, not really accountable to local law or regulation. Sadly, regulation does not exist and, in poor contexts, any Tom Dick or Harry can set up an NGO and, claim to save the world. 

Katie Meyler has no background in education (even the American kids she imported from the US were not qualified teachers) and yet was allowed to found a school (given to her rent free), inaugurated by the former President. 

But if you rewind things a bit, from the outset, I was a little disgusted with the social media marketing that came along with More than Me and its founder Katie Meyler. I had met her by chance at Anglers and, she was drunk and swaying on her feet, talking about all this money she had got from a Pakistani philanthropist. I kept thinking to myself, “Why?” This is the early days, perhaps 2011 or so. In fact, each time I met her at Anglers in the evening, she was drunk. She also had some kids with her. 

How do you reconcile this poor public behaviour with someone who is working hard to alleviate poverty and abuse? Especially as a foreigner? 

The impression I got is this lady is partying all the time. 

I saw her on my Facebook Newsfeed with her face plastered next to small Liberian girls, hugging them, kissing them. As Trevor Noah would say, at least run a comb through their hair or wash their faces before you post their faces for your own glory. 

I read somewhere that this lady wanted to or did harvest her eggs to raise funds. This information alone was a warning signal that Katie Meyler is a marketing gimmick, a dangerous personality cult. 

During my brief stint with Mercy Corps in 2015, I saw that the organisation More than Me had grown huge and, was getting contracts in the ebola crisis. During a lunch break, I learned in a hush hush way that this was an outrage since the school was involved in a sex scandal involving little girls. Folks knew and were shocked that this organisation was in everyone’s good books. 

How did this organisation continue to grow bigger, going from prestige to prestige, glory to glory? Anytime you looked, you saw Katie Meyler was winning awards, doing TED talks, and, getting covers and, meeting rich Americans. Goes to show any idiot can do a TED TALK. 

Before we knew it, the Bridge Academy debate also came up in Liberia, and More Than Me was one of the schools that was part of this experiment. An experiment that was decried, critiqued, and questioned. So, More than Me became part of the outsourcing of primary education in Liberia. Just like that. 

If someone like me who just met Katie Meyler briefly in passing thought it was odd she was always drunk or partying, then those who actually vet, regulate and approve of foreign charities must not be looking very closely. Did no one realise that the fixer was Katie Meyler ’s boyfriend? In which universe, can a charity be allowed to be set up, run, receive funds and win awards when the founder is sleeping with the man giving out scholarships? And, on what basis did she receive all these millions in the US? 

In this documentary, did anyone notice how she was filming a sick child with ebola? How did it even pass? 

This story shows how blasting social media with your “thopra” (FACE) next to poor kids and proclaiming you love them and, we are all “more than me” can get you millions of dollars to play with. 

And, to counter those reacting to this story, that “good intentions are not enough", I beg to differ. By saying she had good intentions absolves her completely of responsibility and personal ethics. It says, she is innocent, naive but still good. 

Liberia’s state and society has a lot to answer for, too, in this unfortunate story. 

This is a cautionary tale about other NGOs too who raise funds from abroad (and are really ONLY accountable to donors abroad) and, then come and set up shop. Then, they win awards. Abroad! The personality cults of founders are narrated as those of holy saviours. There’s at least a few NGOs and non-profts which operate like this and who started out in Liberia. But unfortunately, aid and charity is never scrutinised. It’s all good.

This idea that Love and Charity can save the world is what's the problem with aid and charity. If it's not political and doesn't have a historical and socio-economic understanding of poverty, inequality, etc in the political context, then, it's dangerous.