DEC Tsunami Appeal

[vixpy1]

A donation to charity is obviously a very personal choice and I don't mean to shove this down PH'ers throats, but there is now a central agency you can donate to, to help.

Here:

www.dec.org.uk/

[White_van_man]

thanks vixpy1

>> Edited by White_van_man on Thursday 30th December 00:16

[tvrgit]

yep good thinking.

Any chance of "stickying" this thread ted?

[docevi1]

is this legit though?

[tvrgit]

trevor macdonald announced the site after ITV news tonight - you can wander into your bank and they'll take donations - there was a postal address for cheques as well, and a phone number for credit card donations - I only remembered the web address and then vixpy posted it.

I'd guess it's legit...

[docevi1]

cool then

Shame I'm so cynical of the world that I thought this could be someone's scam

[tvrforever]

either that or use the automated phone system :-

0870 60 60 900

it's very simple to use.

[ehasler]

Some useful links here

You can also donate via JustGiving too, which I've used in the past for several charities and seems like a good way to do it. They also sort out all the Gift Aid stuff too, so the charity gets an extra 28% from the government.

[Harry Flashman]

Chaps, be careful. My family is originally from Sri Lanka, and so the current disaster is a cause close to my parents' hearts (and mine - I have many family and friends over there and used to spend a lot of time away in Sri Lanka). However, this is from a freelance journo we know over there (sent to my Dad as a caution).

BBC and others are good for donations, and trustworty. Just be careful who you give your money to. In countries like Sri Lanka, there are those that use donations to line their own pockets. The country is in a state, according to many of my friends/relatives, and the government is not doing all it could be. I was there in March - I can well imagine the devastation on the coast, and it can't be pretty. See below:

This was written for Sri Lankans in Sri Lanka, but may help paint a picture of the situation. Good on you if you want to help (all the countries affected need it, believe me) - but be cynical about to whom your charity goes.

Subject: A Freelance Journalist Speaks

Hello All,

This is just to let everyone know the REAL situation prevalent in the South. I, along with another journalist and photographer went down to Matara, Galle and other outlying towns yesterday. I just got back a few hours ago and am heading back down there at 2pm local time today (28th).

The Television Media (esp STATE RUN TV) is painting a picture a pretty picture of aid being sent and everything being alright. Yesterday, more than 36 hours after the first waves hit the south, there was still NO aid in EITHER Galle or Matara. That means there was nothing.

In Galle at the Cathedral, there were close to 700 people. The Father there said that locals had provided aid. No government stuff had come at all. How odd. There were infants who did not have formula milk.
Yet the Government had 'mobilized' every unit under the sun. Hmmm..

Now with all the aid being sent from here, my questions is WHERE is all that stuff going? So just be careful. My advice is not to send aid through the State. Villagers near Kamburupitiya (inland from Matara) said that the Police were pilfering stuff. My advice is to send aid through Churches, Temples or other religious institutions, where corruption will be a lot less.

Secondly, despite the lovely picture of 'humanity being helped' that the State is painting, the south (and I believe the east, we have a correspondent there who said it's worse off in fact) is very, very badly hit.

In Matara, there were not enough police officers to transfer bodies to the graves. There were no officers to record the deaths. The hospitals were barely functional. It is not fun. And the Government, for the last 36 hours has done NOTHING. I'm sorry Mr. Prime Minister, but your seat is suffering the most. What are you doing? There are (or WERE yesterday evening) 5000 bodies in the Hambantota town. Not moved. 36 hours after the wave. What is the Government doing?

What about the UN? The ICRC? With all due respect to both organizations, their presence was not seen or heard in any of the places we went to. How long does it take a prominent international aid organization to get down to a danger area? One and a half days? Two? How long?

So my plea to you is, please, please help. Sri Lanka needs you. We have never seen destruction like this. Those of you who have already responded, thanks. To those of you who are still thinking of helping
- please do so. Just get in touch with a religious organization and send the stuff. Do not trust the state.

If you are going down there, go in groups. People are looting very badly. Don't travel after dark. If you want to help out here there are areas where volunteers are wanted very badly - Mattakuliya, Ratmalana etc. Find out and go. Again, try and work with private aid and religious organizations. Sorry GOSL but you really dropped the ball this time. Don't trust them.

For those of you who were out clubbing Sunday night, here's a thought. Those clubs could have been hit first, if the wave came further up the coast. So please, if you want to party, go ahead. But just put your desires aside and help somehow.

It's time to come together. It's time to do something. There is a lot of TALK going around. Lets see how many of us can do something.

Thanks, and God Bless you all,

Mahangu



>> Edited by Harry Flashman on Thursday 30th December 12:20

[Lois-PIE]

Its a very good thing, but what I don't get it how this differs so much to be more worthwhile than helping the long suffering of Africa etc.

[vixpy1]

The British Public have now donated over £20 million.



>> Edited by vixpy1 on Thursday 30th December 12:47

[peterpeter]

Lois-PIE said:

Its a very good thing, but what I don't get it how this differs so much to be more worthwhile than helping the long suffering of Africa etc.

it doesnt Lois...most of the comments on your "make poverty history" were positive. It was just a few "i dont give a shit" heartless types who spoiled it.

They are mysteriously quiet now in the "earthquake in Asia" thread.

One of them called this sort of thing "Natural Selection".

[flasher]

Lois-PIE said:

Its a very good thing, but what I don't get it how this differs so much to be more worthwhile than helping the long suffering of Africa etc.

Because this is a natural disaster rather than one caused by Civil wars and therefore man made. Africa has had millions over the last 20 years and still they have civil wars and famine. This, is entirely different....

I have never given much to charity in the past other than Cancer research, but today I gave £25 to the appeal, its nothing to me but to someone else it might make a difference, I'm also going to clear out all my old clothes and shoes and hand them in to Oxfam later, they are desperate for stuff. These poor sods have have lost everything, can you imagine waking up tomorrow to find everything gone including your famliy and livelihood? I saw an Indonesian woman on Sky last night, she had lost her father and two of her children along with her house, she said she wished she had died with them.

It's disgusting that the people of this country have given more than the government. Its also pretty sick that "New" labour spent more on the f****g millenium dome than they have donated to this tradgedy.

I wonder where all PH's famous cynics who criticised Lois' thread and in the past didn't give a toss about human tragedies like 9/11 are now? Their silence speaks volumes...

[ehasler]

flasher said:

Lois-PIE said: Its a very good thing, but what I don't get it how this differs so much to be more worthwhile than helping the long suffering of Africa etc. Because this is a natural disaster rather than one caused by Civil wars and therefore man made. Africa has had millions over the last 20 years and still they have civil wars and famine. This, is entirely different....

It also doesn't really help when you read stories like this

[Harry Flashman]

flasher said:

It's disgusting that the people of this country have given more than the government. Its also pretty sick that "New" labour spent more on the f****g millenium dome than they have donated to this tradgedy.

Bravo.

Reinforces my view that we Brits are not the apathetic, selfish materialists that we are often made out to be. Also shows up the government for what it is; gutless and masters of the half-measure.

>> Edited by Harry Flashman on Thursday 30th December 15:06

[MilnerR]

Watched the news coverage of the earth quake got up from the sofa to make some food to find there was nothing in the fridge. It then hit me that i'd felt more anguish about my fridge being empty (and having to go to the shops) then what was happening to other humans! £50 donated and a sense of guilt acquired !


Just read lois's poverty thread and some of the attitudes illustrates why the third world is in such a mess in the first place! Hey, I'm alright Jack !




>> Edited by MilnerR on Thursday 30th December 15:40

[UKBoB]

Lloyds are also taking money, I did a transfer whilst in there today.

[imperialism2024]

flasher said:

It's disgusting that the people of this country have given more than the government. Its also pretty sick that "New" labour spent more on the f****g millenium dome than they have donated to this tradgedy. I wonder where all PH's famous cynics who criticised Lois' thread and in the past didn't give a toss about human tragedies like 9/11 are now? Their silence speaks volumes...

To address the first paragraph, if I read the previously posted letter correctly, one must be careful where one contributes money. I do not believe that secular governments are too keen on pouring money into religious organizations, so their money would go to the corrupt governments of the countries involved, or the even more corrupt UN. Is that what they want? I don't think so.

To respond to the second paragraph, here is my response. I am trying to sort out all of the information before blindly throwing money about. That's one of the things that pisses me off about do-good tell-everyone-where-to-throw-their-money types: you don't care how the money is spent, as long as you contribute in the general direction of your cause. I believe it's more of a self-esteem issue than anything else, you give money because it makes you feel good about yourself, and it makes you feel like you're doing something good in the world. It's not about helping out the people who need help. Sure, I may be generalizing, and there may be a few genuinely concerned individuals, mostly characterized by those who are willing to travel to a foreign land and directly help people. I applaud those who are that dedicated. But for those who just send a small portion of their paycheck, or old clothes they would have thrown away anyway, they are looking to feel better about themselves, a self-esteem fee, so to speak.

Now, to apply the advice of the makepovertyhistory site, the British and American governments should hike taxes, contribute millions to the corrupt governments of the affected countries, and cross their fingers that the governments have a little money left over to spend on relief after they get done lining their own pockets. Then, the money that does get through should be spent only on shoddy locally-made goods, and be banned from buying superior and cheaper products from first-world countries. Doesn't sound so good when a brilliant idea is actually applied to real life, no?

And for the record, I do give to charity. But please not the I. I don't want to spend other peoples' money for them, and that was the prime focus of my rant on the other thread. Though I have my own opinions of who it is worth giving money to and who it is not, I'll refrain from starting that argument.

In closing, I would like to suggest that before we all start pouring money into random charities, we examine the facts rather than rely on the hysteria spit out by the media. It's really quality of aid rather than quantity. I'm sure the people affected by this natural diaster would much rather appreciate $50 million where every alst penny was efficiently spent to help them rather than receive $5 billion given as token gifts between govenments, with most of it being squandered, and the rest being wasted due the inefficiencies characteristic of anything a government spends money on.

Oh, and let's make sure we donate for the right reasons?

[flasher]

Please dont preach to me. I haven't given money because I want to feel good, it's because I want to help, you cynical twat. If you dont,that's your look-out. As for the rest of your post, are you just trying to be clever or trying to dig yourself out of a massive hole?

[imperialism2024]

flasher said:

Please dont preach to me. I haven't given money because I want to feel good, it's because I want to help, you cynical twat. If you dont,that's your look-out. As for the rest of your post, are you just trying to be clever or trying to dig yourself out of a massive hole?

Alright, if you feel that your sole point in donating was to help people, then I appaud you. Though I don't know why, if one is donating to help others, it is necessary to brag that he did so? That is what confuses me, why people feel the need to tell others about their donations. To me, that reads "Look how much I donated. See how good of a person I am?" But I digress. You must answer to no one but yourself.

And faced with the two options you give me, I guess I was just trying to be clever. I don't quite see what massive hole I'm in...

-Cynical Twat

edited because I forgot to sign my post

>> Edited by imperialism2024 on Thursday 30th December 21:07