How the quality of mercy is strained

摘要

Impoverished Jordanians in the northern city of Mafraq have learnt to curse the arrival of foreign aid agencies. Since they began dishing out cash to Syrian refugees to help them pay for housing, rents have soared, pricing some families out of their homes. "We have a way of going in gung-ho, giving things, and not looking at what the impact will be on other communities," says an adviser to a British charity. Aid now plays a big part in the turbulent Middle East. Last year the area consumed almost 60% of the global budget for humanitarian relief, which reached almost $25 billion. Of the four largest recipients, all but one, South Sudan, was in the Middle East. Tales of heroic personal kindness still abound. But today's aid agencies sometimes seem more like flint-faced multinationals than Mother Teresa.