Which one: fishing rod or fish  

its like give man a fish he will live for a day, teach man how to fish he will live for his lifetime.

well of course letting them fend for themselves is better than just giving it to them.

If you give to people frequently, then these people's selfrespect are being affected. Ever wondered why some beneficiaries sometimes bites the hand that feeds them? You have more pride in what you have owned or made yourself. Not a good idea to give to people unless it is to help out in an isolated crises. For the rest they must rather be taught to 'fish'.

Teaching a man to "fish" is a good plan; but often one that is hard to obtain, because you are then asking for people to not only give of their money but also thier time. We must do better as a society to start teaching our children the necessary skills to become more productive adults so that we will no longer need to give man the fish; yet he will have already learned the skill of fishing from an early age.

I agree with you. Better teach them ways to earn money instead of giving them raw money. They won't be able to realize it's worth unless it's hard earned by them. If we keep on giving them money, all they'll ever come to know is that .. "Alright, let's just wait for the next batch of charitable institutions who'll come to feed us." So I say, let's teach them more ways how to earn it so at least they have direction in life.

"Give a man a fish and you have fed him for a day, Teach a man to fish and you will feed him for the rest of his life, Teach a man to Teach other men to fish, and you have solved world hunger"

The first is the easiest, the last is the best. Cloth is understandable to donate, the rest I feel when people are in the need to accept these donations, they should be obligated to provide some sort of service to the community which they attained the funds.

With Appreciation.

I think instant assistance is more important than trying to make the poor people self sufficient because they are suffering and need to be helped immediately. Yes , after providing them with some food ,etc We should give them the fishing rod but only after because otherwise they'll probably die. Imagine this. A famine in Africa and we send over seeds for them to plant >.> Ok , so we need to get them back on their feet first and then we can get them working for themselves.