By Elizabeth Rosenberg 

The New York Times Magazine traces the global flow of charitable clothing drives in How Susie Bayer’s T-Shirt Ended Up on Yusuf Mama’s Back.  Had we ever considered that our donations may be sorted into a “wiper rag” category?  Or had we thought of the fact that our garments may be so extraneous that they are collected into mountains of unwanted clothes? The “clothes mountain” photograph linked below was taken by Aaron Huey as part of a National Geographic issue on the Pine Ridge Reservation in North Dakota, a location frequented by numerous alternative break service-learning trips.

 See: In the Shadow of Wounded Knee.

This brings to light an important question: which of the questions that we ask about donating our time should we also ask about donating our things?  And have we considered where these items came from before we received them? Is it possible these donated clothes are making a circular trip back to the producer? The juxtaposition of clothing made for un-livable wages returning as used items to those who made them is all too clear in this photo collection by two Haiti-based photojournalists. Indeed, considering the “results” of clothing drive efforts may help educators and group leaders step into discussions on charity, project, and social change with service-learning participants.

These kinds of resources – popular media and art – can help open many important conversations with our students. What implications must we recognize regarding donations, international aid, and development?  How are power and privilege at play in these systems? In what way can we look at our patterns of consumption and donation as global citizens? And how do we imagine new ways of approaching these issues?

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Elizabeth Rosenberg is a masters student in Social Work and Public Health at the University of Maryland Baltimore, where she concentrates in community and population health, community action, and social policy. She is also the Graduate Intern with Building a Better World.