
How about we stop building apps for refugees and top up their phones instead? - danielfoster
https://medium.com/needslist/how-about-we-stop-building-apps-for-refugees-and-top-up-their-phones-instead-f48c46812a64
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coldtea
Well, building BS apps for refugees gives you a lot of nice PR for solving
non-problems.

Actually helping them does not.

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indescions_2017
Or extend to anyone with a mobile an automatic line of credit they can use in
emergencies or at will. PayTM in India is expanding on consumer credit and
lending services at the "auto-rickshaw" level and for the micro amounts we are
talking about here (>$100 per month) it seems more a question of distributing
the phones than the wealth. Further if feeless peer to peer transactions via
Digital Gold or cryptocurrency become ubiquitous, analagous peer to peer
lending would also be universal.

The interesting case is in Puerto Rico after Hurrican Irma when all cell
towers are wiped out. You have the common scenario of a CNN reporter with a
sat phone relaying messages on behalf of stranded locals who just want to let
their relatives know they are alive.

Deployment of Iridium Next with cheap sat phones with integrated digital
payments could work wonders.

[http://www.cabelas.com/product/DeLorme-InReach-Explorer-
Sate...](http://www.cabelas.com/product/DeLorme-InReach-Explorer-Satellite-
Communicator-with-Navigation/1926518.uts)

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dingo_bat
Why not just give them some money and let them decide where to spend? I doubt
phone top ups are critical for a refugee.

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EGreg
Why not let them issue their own mobile crypto currency to help each other?

And not just refugees but villages. Helping the unbanked.

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PhasmaFelis
I almost upvoted this, but then I realized, with dawning horror, that you
might actually be serious.

~~~
Joeboy
Actually... [https://www.wfp.org/news/news-release/blockchain-against-
hun...](https://www.wfp.org/news/news-release/blockchain-against-hunger-
harnessing-technology-support-syrian-refugees)

~~~
EGreg
Aha!

Maybe now you'll upvote me.

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purplezooey
Or how about this, let's build fewer apps in the US and more infrastructure.
We spend so much time on software but our connectivity lags well behind
developed countries, not to mention not building enough roads and houses.

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adnam
How much does it cost to be smuggled from Afghanistan to Belgium? Exactly.

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Feniks
Emotional story. I feel for refugees. Its too bad how economic migrants are
giving them a bad reputation.

Remember watching a documentary about two kids being stuck in Greece. Even
European streets are not safe for eleven year old boys and girls.

~~~
eropple
_> Its too bad how economic migrants are giving them a bad reputation._

 _Racist propagandists_ are giving them a "bad reputation".

Tacitly reinforcing it helps the racist propagandists.

Maybe don't do that.

~~~
Spivak
No, people who are afraid for their own economic circumstances and safety are
responsible for that reputation. Pretending that the problem is a few vague
high status racist talking heads that have the masses brainwashed is just a
scapegoat for the reality that by in large we're nimbys and aren't as
charitable as we believe we are.

I can sit at my desk and post empathetic tweets that loudly proclaim my
support for refugees safe in the knowledge that either way the situation won't
affect my life in the slightest. I haven't been tested -- and so I'm reluctant
to throw stones at the people who have because I'm can't say whether I would
pass myself.

~~~
eropple
_> people who are afraid for their own economic circumstances and safety are
responsible for that reputation_

It's not "economic circumstances and safety" that makes people invent hordes
of dark-complected rape gangs out of whole cloth (that would be Pegida, a neo-
Nazi group who invented the "Cologne rape gangs" and other similar swill). And
the people casting racism as "economic insecurity" _are themselves racist
propagandists_ , my dude; it is air cover for bad shit. They do not deserve
your buy-in or your charity.

~~~
jakobegger
Thanks for saying this so clearly. Anti-Immigration hate has nothing to do
with „economic insecurity“. That‘s just something people say because they
desperately want to find a somewhat rational reason for xenophobia. But there
isn‘t.

For some reason, all the people I know that complain about immigrants are
actually pretty well off. I think they don‘t have any real problems in life,
so they just come up with some imaginary threat.

The people who actually suffer from economic hardship don‘t worry about
immigrants – they have enough problems of their own to worry about.

Not sure if my observations are representative, though.

~~~
eropple
_> For some reason, all the people I know that complain about immigrants are
actually pretty well off. I think they don‘t have any real problems in life,
so they just come up with some imaginary threat._

I can't speak for everywhere, but Donald Trump's supporters in the United
States certainly did trend well-off, majority/white, and male. My theory is
that it's not immediate problems gripping them--it's that they see other
people _catching up_ , and the idea that it's zero-sum has permeated the game.

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Synaesthesia
Yet another argument for free telecommunications for all.

~~~
zo1
I myself would prefer we give out free food for all, rather than "free
telecommunication". We should put food-ration centers all across the country
where people can go to get their daily rations. Like public schools.

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marindez
How about we stop building apps for refugees and help our local poor who at
least have contributed in the past to the local economy instead?

~~~
pavlov
If the criterion for helping someone is "has contributed to the economy",
doesn't that exclude children, the handicapped, the unemployed in recession
areas, and many other groups without work history?

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fairpx
How about giving them good equipment and organise hackathons, so they can
build the things they need for themselves, while having fun. There are a good
chunk of developers among them with awesome ideas. Nothing beats a product
built by someone, for him/her self.

~~~
CharlesDodgson
I dunno, I imagine more refugees are illiterate than have app development
skills. These efforts may be useful further down the line, when you are trying
to build community and sense of progress, but when a mother and child are
sleeping in a park in the French countryside, the needs are different.

~~~
fairpx
A lot of people have this strange image about refugees. These people fled from
a war zone, not because they don't have any food or are illiterate. In fact, a
majority of the refugees are here because they have money which they spend on
the journey to flee their country. Among them are doctors, physicians,
engineers, etc.

~~~
jaclaz
>In fact, a majority of the refugees are here because they have money which
they spend on the journey to flee their country. Among them are doctors,
physicians, engineers, etc.

Not only.

These doctors, physicians, engineers very likely belong to a subset of
literate/educated people that are more adventurous, risk prone, courageous and
flexible/adaptable.

