Charity adverts

[Timmytree]

There seems to be a plethora of these begging adverts on at the moment, clean water, thermal blankets, food aid, shelter to name but a few. All asking us to text and donate £3 or whatever and then our generous government will match our donations with another £3 of my bloody tax money. Well, some news for our leaders. I'm giving bugger all for overseas aid because we have more than enough problems in our country. I don't like the idea of my tax being given away either because there's no guarantee that it won't end up being spent on arms or lining the pockets of some fiddling Chairman or local tinpot dictator. I'm more inclined to drop a couple of quid to a Big Issue seller or buy a sandwich and coffee for a homeless person than chuck money at what I see as a perpetual problem that will never be solved.
At the risk of sounding heartless I'll cite some parts of Africa as an example, the rains fail, crops fail, people start dying of disease and famine and dirty water. How long has that cycle been going on?
Nothing seems to improve, the people don't help themselves!
I don't want to seem heartless but frankly I'm fed up to the back teeth with appeals for every bloody crisis that happens elsewhere. I would prefer my money and our overseas aid budget to be spent on the care of people in this country, our kids and old people should come first and foremost and sod the rest of them.

[eboswan]

The only charity i donate too now is the air ambulance.

[Katzenjammer]

My daughter and I were talking about this the other day. Not that there seem to be so many charities or appeals or charity shops in Spain. Some days my letterbox is stuffed full of charity collection bags!

I question where all the Africa aid has gone. As you say TT into Arms, or the President and his cronies pockets and God help you if you aren't or his tribe or clan! Bokassa and Idi probably spent a lot on deep freezes to keep their locally sourced meat in! I came across a compilation book in a charity shop some months back comprising the articles written as "Letter from Kampala" from Punch way back in the 70's.

Butterwick Hospice Trust and Salvation Army and the Air Ambulance get my support in the main.

[Brooksy]

Have you been to Africa?

We went to Kenya and a local taxi driver offered to take us on a full day tour at 09.00 the following day for £60.00. He turned up the following day at 3 PM and blew his lid when we refused to go, too busy all day messing around.

A friend of mine went to Ethiopia to survey land for a factory, he employed a local to go into the field, which was full of maize and peg out the target for the laser level, the guy drove a Land Rover all over it completely flattening the lot and then claimed Bob Geldof would feed them.

I've been all over and all I see is men sitting nattering or playing cards, they won't work for themselves so why should I support them?

[Katzenjammer]

Hmmmm the last paragraph sounds like our benefits culture!!!!

[wastrel]

other than the fact I hate toffs, (bear with me here, ahem!) one of the things about fox hunting I find insulting is this fallacy that they`re controlling numbers, utter ballsox, if a fox has no or a borderline foodsource it will produce smaller litters or none at all, many animals do this, now, my point-
one of my Aunts volunteered & went to Africa during the 80`s Ethiopian drought & famine, in the camp she worked in, the head erm doc or medic an Australian woman went berserk with 3 young girls, their babes lay dying of malnutrition & starvation & they, they were pregnant, my aunt said they had no idea why being pregnant was a problem, one of the African nurses told them some girls prefer to be pregnant as their men are less demanding of them!
some of these people cannot control basic human urges & have no concept of responsibility that even an animal can fathom, my Aunt says they`d coined a term by the time they left, the more we feed the more they breed. she recommended we didn`t give money to African charities, & I never have.

[Timmytree]

It all sounds depressingly familiar. A friend of mine goes to Africa every couple of years as a school volunteer exchange thing. He is a whizz at all things mechanical so did good work with pumps and things, made basic machinery for papermaking for local schools, mending agricultural tools etc. He got demoralized after going back to the same villages and seeing his efforts rotting or rusting while people sat around doing absolutely nothing to help themselves.
If they can't be bothered, why should anyone else make the effort?

[wastrel]

one of the funny stories my aunt brought back & an indicator of how backward & uneducated some tribesmen & woman can be,
as they all desperately prayed for rain during her stay it came from the west at last, they were tracking it across Africa, one fellow had abandoned his rain measuring station (read hut) as there`d been nowt to record for 2 years, an African chap had happily accepted the paid post with said hut & moved in pronto all smiles & all that, instructions couldn`t be simpler, go out into adjacent field so many times a day to the bottle with square rain catching thingy on top, measure the water level, empty it, send in report of how many inches of water ergo- how many inches of rain fell in a spell at his post, doddle right? well, despite monsoon conditions all around him this chap repeatedly sent zero inches of rain to report, day in day out?? when an inspector went to check, happy chappy was sat on his porch with the bottle beside him, under cover from rain & out of harms (ergo monsoons) way, he looked at the bottle several times a day & since there was nowt in the bottle, that was what he reported!
some of the other stories she came back with, made my families minds up, we`d never ever send money to any African charity again.

[Mason]

Charities seem to be far removed from what they once were. They are now big business with CEO's earning 6 figure sums with a plethera of subordinates on overly generous salaries. The revenue they generate has unbelievable tax concessions linked to them as well as reduced or no rates and low rent. They enjoy oppulent life styles as they organise fundraising events and galas, the bulk of these funds being taken for administration and some times as little as 7% finding its way to the intended party so for every £1.00 you give only 7p reaches the target. The efficacy of many charities is appalling, not to mention the huge reserves that they sit on, often tens of millions of pounds.
What happened to the money donated after the tsunami that killed 3/4 million? Billions were raised; I know the UN took 100 million for administration fees. Where did the rest go?
I now give to one charity that provides 81% of donations to the actual work it is raised for.

[Raj]

This one ? http://www.nzf.org.uk/News/ViewArticle/47