How will the donations be administered?
In yesterday’s blog I wrote briefly about the tsunami disaster in South Asian countries. It was not my intention to write about that problem at this time, but somewhat later. As I received an email from Europe relating to that blog, I could not help but write a few more words today.
My correspondent wrote: “Too much money was given, and now the different humanitarian organizations do not know how to deal with this big amount of money…last week, they announced we had to give food, and clothes…then some days later, they said ‘stop! Only send money now’…as if the Human kind got bogged down in a mess of generosity not knowing what to do, overtaken by this catastrophe…finally totally useless and powerless by dint of feeling itself essential….Maybe we should try to accept this opportunity given by the earth to meditate on our fragility and humbleness. Let’s dream now that the different countries will learn the lesson and focus more on their own territory, helping the poor and disabled and sick, to live in dignity and comfort.”
We do have individuals around the world who read and think and write because they have concerns. They realize that attention needs to be centered on critical issues, that questions need to be asked; that answers need to be provided.
My concern is not about the amount of money donated to date so much as how the monies will be used and how the benefits of these monies will be disbursed to the victims of this disaster. We as individuals who donate only hope that our donations will be used to the maximum benefit of the suffering masses.
Experiences have shown that monies provided to many countries often find their way into the pockets of government officials and those in positions who administer programs within those countries and even in the countries that make the donations. After national disasters and wars, there is a need for reconstruction in those countries. There we find that the wealthy become wealthier through contracts of all sorts. We as individuals who donate monies or pay taxes and have our national governments provide aid monies to foreign governments can only hope that the monies are used or disbursed in appropriate ways.
Even in our ‘civilized” Canada we recently learned that “middle men” and firms “extracted” high commission rates to simply pass on monies from the government to firms that sometimes did not even provide the full service that had been under contract. Currently this scandal is being investigated to determine the truth of the matter.
Also, in Canada, we have organizations and agencies that can respond to emergency situations of national disaster; these perhaps will be viewed as being somewhat ineffective in ability and in response time. A lesson here can be learned. Furthermore, it should be recognized that the historic reduction of budgets for the military have led to our loss of a capacity for the government to respond to tragedies of the type that occurred in South Asia. If we had a tragedy, even minor in scope to that experienced on December 26, a response would certainly not have been good enough. The Canadian Government needs to “pull up its socks” and to develop appropriate and fully functioning emergency measures organizations and military personnel capable of being used in the field in an appropriate and timely fashion.
My correspondent wrote: “Too much money was given, and now the different humanitarian organizations do not know how to deal with this big amount of money…last week, they announced we had to give food, and clothes…then some days later, they said ‘stop! Only send money now’…as if the Human kind got bogged down in a mess of generosity not knowing what to do, overtaken by this catastrophe…finally totally useless and powerless by dint of feeling itself essential….Maybe we should try to accept this opportunity given by the earth to meditate on our fragility and humbleness. Let’s dream now that the different countries will learn the lesson and focus more on their own territory, helping the poor and disabled and sick, to live in dignity and comfort.”
We do have individuals around the world who read and think and write because they have concerns. They realize that attention needs to be centered on critical issues, that questions need to be asked; that answers need to be provided.
My concern is not about the amount of money donated to date so much as how the monies will be used and how the benefits of these monies will be disbursed to the victims of this disaster. We as individuals who donate only hope that our donations will be used to the maximum benefit of the suffering masses.
Experiences have shown that monies provided to many countries often find their way into the pockets of government officials and those in positions who administer programs within those countries and even in the countries that make the donations. After national disasters and wars, there is a need for reconstruction in those countries. There we find that the wealthy become wealthier through contracts of all sorts. We as individuals who donate monies or pay taxes and have our national governments provide aid monies to foreign governments can only hope that the monies are used or disbursed in appropriate ways.
Even in our ‘civilized” Canada we recently learned that “middle men” and firms “extracted” high commission rates to simply pass on monies from the government to firms that sometimes did not even provide the full service that had been under contract. Currently this scandal is being investigated to determine the truth of the matter.
Also, in Canada, we have organizations and agencies that can respond to emergency situations of national disaster; these perhaps will be viewed as being somewhat ineffective in ability and in response time. A lesson here can be learned. Furthermore, it should be recognized that the historic reduction of budgets for the military have led to our loss of a capacity for the government to respond to tragedies of the type that occurred in South Asia. If we had a tragedy, even minor in scope to that experienced on December 26, a response would certainly not have been good enough. The Canadian Government needs to “pull up its socks” and to develop appropriate and fully functioning emergency measures organizations and military personnel capable of being used in the field in an appropriate and timely fashion.
posted by croweagle at
9:09 PM
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