The reality of many former colonies is that they can boast of their ties to former colonizers, but they have nothing to show for that. Countries that get pummeled by the same types of disasters every year for centuries, but the colonizers never put in place sustainable infrastructural and disaster preparedness systems to deal with these disasters. Let alone social structures for the citizens of these countries, who often are their former citizens.. Colonizers have systematically looted these countries and have not created the same conditions for success that they have created for themselves.
Meanwhile the residents of the former colonies thrive with nearly every social benefit in place that you can think of and the ability to boast of a certain “first world” standard of living. Residents of the former colonies have not seen the benefits that could have come from the ties their countries have with the former colonisers.
Colonialism has left these countries with a fancied, but thin sense of nationalism that prevents them from acknowledging that their people are suffering whereas their former colonizers are thriving. Governments, having received a system from the colonizers, that was designed for them to fail, do exactly that: they fail!
Most former colonies have seen their governments bumble from one failure to the next, unable to land any economic success, often despite their country’s abundance of natural resources. Often, they are unwilling to land success, because as long as their country remains in a state of despair they thrive through the opportunities that creates for them.
The people meanwhile have become dependent, in a state where they expect Government to take care of everything, but as Government has adopted a system designed for them to fail, the people too fail to understand that they cannot and should not expect much.
They have accepted mediocrity as a norm and do not expect more. The main street in their neighborhood being inundated does not bother them. People have resolved to survive, not live.
CROSS BORDER
The idea is that millions of professionals of color live in the Netherlands/Europe, who do not want to contribute (anymore) to mainstream initiatives because the nuances are often wrong; because the initiatives often do not lead to self-reliance but to dependence. That does not make the need/obligation to contribute any less. Hence the switch to the new name.
This project will initially focus on playgrounds, but gradually the intention is to encourage all kinds of initiatives from the Netherlands in former colonies, with which people there will become self-reliant. No handouts and/or outdated development cooperation strategies, but initiatives initiated by people here who come from there, who know the culture there and want to contribute with the right nuances, initiatives in which the people there are involved. Initiatives from which they earn and which at the same time raise the standard of living there.