This is an expression I have heard a few times this year. It refers to the massive amount of useless and often expired or malfunctioning equipment donated to poor countries in Africa from the West. I must not be too cynical, since I know many useful items are donated in good faith. In fact Mercy Ships and Cure are careful to put out proper ‘needs’ lists so that willing donators know what is and is not required. Unfortunately, some people put together huge containers of their unwanted items and send them off with the assumption that Africa will be able to use it all. Sadly, and more often than not, they can’t and in the case of malfunctioning equipment, they have no resources to fix them. Worse still, where are they supposed to dump this stuff? I guess the point is: if you can’t or don’t want to use it in your own country, then the likelihood is they won’t be able to use in Africa either.
The storeroom in Malawi's Queen's Hospital.The term "Junk for Jesus" is most commonly used in religious organizations that work abroad in the "developing" world, one of which we are working with now.
I was talking to one of the surgeons on the ship about this topic. He pointed me to the old Jewish writings in Malachi chapter 1 (Old Testament) which speaks of God’s anger when the people bring defiled offerings to him. God points out that not even their governor would accept such offerings. An interesting reminder.
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