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Charities board update
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Please note, our Forum rules no longer allow the posting of links to personal fundraising or crowdfunding pages, such as JustGiving. You can read the full set of our Forum rules here.
Sponsoring a child?
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Replies
Me neither.
Children in the UK do face real poverty but they also have access to free schooling and health care that simply aren't available in other countries, where children die of preventable diseases. Yes the system here needs to be improved but it's better than some other countries. Poverty is a global issue. Saying just sponsor a UK child implies only UK children need or deserve support.
I am involved in a homeless charity in my city, where there are currently just over 2000 homeless people, and last night 50 of them slept rough on the streets in this city alone. Believe me, when I tell you that most of these people have worked hard all their lives and been hit by bad times and job loss. FYI I am yet to see any immigrants there, even though our city is quite literally flooded with them
We are a 'first world' country, yet in our own eyes, our people come 2nd to outsiders for fear of being seen as un-PC or (gasp) racist.
We have people from the UK sleeping rough while immigrants get council places, and people from the UK relying heavily on food banks and handouts while immigrants are getting jobs. While we are busy throwing council houses and jobs at immigrants, our own people are quite literally going under because as an island race, we do not have the resources to support such a now vast income of outsiders - I am sure the government with their economics specialists knew this though. I know darn well that I will get a good ole flaming for this post, because most people will think how disgusting and narrow mindedly attack me for being some kind of rascist or whatever
Most people from the UK wouldn't p1ss on another fellow country man if he was on fire - but show him a starving African, and its all hands in wallets.
I know I would rather give my money/time where I can see it doing good with my own eyes. At the end of the day, the whole world is falling over themselves to throw money at the third world, but no one is going to help the UK - we need to get our priorities right and start getting our own house in order before worrying about other countries. It doesn't make you a better person to donate money abroad. It just means that your priorities are different. I'd never do it again
As for the issue of sending aid abroad...it's a contentious one, I agree with you, and I do get frustrated at the amount of aid being thrown at countries and wasted, but development aid doesn't just consist of monetary aid - it also takes into account people donating their time, skills, etc.
Foreign aid does need an overhaul, in my humble opinion, but I don't think people should use this as an excuse to simply stop giving to NGO's, etc working abroad. All it means is you have to do more legwork and look into precisely *how* the money you would be donating will be spent, and how will it effect the community long-term. Is it a short-term stop-gap or will it have longer-reaching effects?
Because my mother founded and runs a charity abroad, I've become very aware of how different charities operate. My mother's works with an ethos of encouraging self-sustainability rather than acting as a crutch, and it's worked wonders in the community in which her charity operates.
Me, I am looking at starting a social enterprise in East Africa teaching English. I don't want to run it as a charity, so will charge, but part of the money raised will be set aside to allow people too poor to afford education to be able to get a foot on the ladder, so to speak.
People naturally value something more if they've had to pay for it - even if it's just a nominal amount - rather than if it's just given to them. Which is again why I recommend people do a lot of research into the work of the organisation they're looking to donate to - ask about projects, expenditures, long-term goals/aims, success record to date, etc.
Thanks for your response - sounds like your Mothers charity is doing a fantastic job
I think we have to be wary of imposing 'our' solutions abroad, and research before and after giving to any charity is essential.
Where children are concerned, there is real child poverty in the UK, yes, but the needs in other countries are more desperate, and the infrastructure just isn't there.
We have stayed away from sponsoring children. Instead we pay the teachers salaries which means the school has a stable staff which has made a huge difference, we then provide other ways for families to "pay" school fees , such as working in the garden for a few hours or donating beans they have grown which are cooked for the school lunches.
I'm probably biased, but yeah, the charity is fantastic - it's done wonders for the local community. It initially started to help improve working conditions for horses and donkeys (used for labor/agricultural work), but has since expanded to take in school sponsorship scheme and the local clinic, providing funding for both, again with the aim of making them as self-sufficient as possible.
The other benefit is my mother encourages supporters to come and and see the work the charity's doing first-hand. The charity operates in a very rural area, but a house has been built on the compound to accommodate guests, and a show is held every year in December to encourage locals to show off the condition of their animals (and win prizes) - it's a win-win as it's become a big hit (people now come from all over the country, and will travel for days to attend) and foreign supporters get to come out and see first-hand how the charity operates, how their support is helping, etc.
But yeah...compared to the way some (and I do mean some, not all) large charities operate (which can be quite shocking - and not in a good way!) it's a breath of fresh air