Comments on: Blog Action Day – Poverty. It’s helping, that’s what counts….

By: Lisa Lam

Lisa Lam — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:41:58 +0000

@ Helen: For him helping at the dump was one of the highlights of the Thailand clinic because the clinic itself was really underfunded and most of the staff were unqualified (because they were volunteers!); Al found this seriously frustrating! At the dump they were able to help in a positive and tangible way. All in all I think it was a bloody bad situation, at home we are terrifically lucky!

By: Helen

Helen — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 17:42:13 +0000

I can’t imagine what Al and his colleagues must have experienced, but it’s wonderful that they did something concrete to help rather than just thinking ‘how awful’. It’s so sad to think of the extreme deprivation some people have to live with day to day.

Helens last blog post..My – has it really been a year already?

By: Lisa Lam

Lisa Lam — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:25:31 +0000

@ Kay Susan: Thanks for your thoughtful comment. If only those who hold the most power felt ashamed... I don't know those folks in the shopping centre got paid! What a disgrace!

By: Kay Susan

Kay Susan — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:15:43 +0000

Lisa, sometimes a picture really brings a situation to life! Giving those children ‘wellies’ was a flash of brilliance. I went to look at Al’s Flickr – it was a wonderful thing he and his colleagues did and in our greedy, materialistic society we should all be a bit ashamed. Florence, I’m with you – I hate to see those ‘chuggers’ in our shopping centre – since when did charity become ‘big business’? What a sad world we live in.

Kay Susans last blog post..We had the builders in last week…………..

By: Florence

Florence — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 08:41:14 +0000

Thank you for a post that made me think, Lisa. I think the way that Al helped is probably the best (but most unfeasible for most of us) way that you could possibly help. The idea of giving those children the boots and actually seeing them put straight onto their feet is an amazing one…which I think is one of the difficult things to get your head around about giving to charitable causes here…it all seems so far away, and often you can’t be sure that what you’ve given money-wise or donated clothing-wise will have really ended up with the people who most need it. It appalls me that a sizeable chunk of money donated now is spent on paying people to collect direct debits door-to-door or on the street for the charity (yes, those people wearing charity vests and carrying clipboards in Covent Garden are paid! To me this doesn’t add up) as it wasn’t so long ago that people collected money without expecting to be rewarded themselves financially (I remember as a child that I spent hours some weeks collecting for Amnesty International with my mother).

Gosh, rant over…where did that come from? x

Florences last blog post..The one where I follow a pattern!