Cara Delevingne’s down-flipped dungarees make her look very casual, while she sits in a circle of young African girls in Bidibidi refugee settlement in Yumbe district.
The blue UNHCR-branded cap holding her blond ponytail emphasizes her mission: she came to help these South Sudanese refugee girls.
Delevingne, that British model and actress with sharp black eyebrows, was recently visiting four refugee settlements in northern Uganda. By instagramming pictures about her journey, she was promoting the work of Girl Up, a United Nations Foundation’s campaign to empower girls through providing education.
When Teddy Ruge hears about that, he just sighs.
“It’s a classic framing of the white savior in the middle of the brown children and saving them. I can’t overlook the good intentions, but as the classic saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions,” he told The Observer last week.
Ruge, aka TMS Ruge, is a social change advocate and entrepreneur. The Ugandan-born writer is well known for his critique on international do-gooders and volunteer workers. While working with Girl Up in 2012, he initiated a Twitter conversation between girls from Uganda and the USA.
Last week, Delevingne released an article on marieclaire.com about her journey, titled: ‘The week that changed Cara Delevingne’s life’. She wrote: “It was hard to see the sadness cross their faces when they spoke about the fighting they witnessed and watching parents or family members murdered in front of their eyes.
But once the soccer ball was brought out, there was this really nice moment where we all laughed and had a good time…. They just want that little chance, that little first step, that little gift of education, which is so small, yet so huge that it will change their lives forever.”
After she released the article, an argument broke out between Ruge and an apparent fan of Delevingne on Twitter. “You too can have a life-changing experience like I did by visiting [insert marginalized group here],” Ruge tweeted ironically last Monday.
It’s the self-centered perspective of such promotions that irks Ruge.
“I mean, none of the girls was highlighted, right? They didn’t bother to give them names,” Ruge said.
In fact, the girls are just “the girls” or “the refugees” in the early version of Delevingne’s article. They appear as mute scenery for the actress. Delevingne’s Instagram timeline is full of pictures showing Cara dancing with the girls, Cara playing soccer with them, Cara surrounded by their misery. One fan comments: “Cara, you are an angel.”
It’s that narrative of the “white saviour” helping the “second-best” African that makes Ruge angry when it comes to voluntary work.
“Imagine a 15-year-old high school volunteer comes into your community telling you how to grow things! And you have been there your entire life as the master of your environment!” Ruge laments.
According to the 2014 Official Volunteer Abroad Trends report, Uganda is among the ten most popular countries with the highest number of volunteers. For example, the German volunteer program weltwärts accepted 392 applications to Uganda in 2016. But it is the passiveness of Ugandans that Ruge decries – the fear that country believes it second-best.
“It’s bad for our future development to raise a generation of people who think they don’t have any agency in fixing the problems; that they don’t have a role to play. Because some Muzungu came in to start an NGO!” he says, calling out for more reciprocity in volunteer projects.
After Ruges critique on Twitter, the actress herself stayed quiet for a while – until last Friday.
Then marieclaire.com released an updated version of Delevingne’s article. Some of the girls have names now – and their own stories, like 15-year-old Rhoda: “In her home-country of South Sudan, Rhoda was on a primary school scholarship for soccer. Now in Uganda, she plays on the Palorinya school’s all boys soccer team and dreams of becoming a professional player.”
Teddy Ruge tweeted: “Thanks.”
chris.basl@gmx.de