I am an enormous fan of writer Heather Armstrong. She is a master of language and wit, not to mention design, which would make me hate her if she weren’t so durn funny. She is a 21st century Mark Twain. I am an enormous fan of many international aid writers: Tales From the Hood, Saundra Schimmelpfennig, [...]
Sure, a two-week international trip might open eyes (though it just as likely may not), but any site-visit pales in comparison to what we can learn from our fellow givers who were born into recipient communities and deeply understand the priorities of their first home.
Donating stuff instead of cash can cause not only headaches, but actively make things worse. International aid bloggers have been pointing this out, again and again and again and again, to the point where they feel like broken records. It’s not just a problem in international giving. It is in giving at home, too: Relief [...]
From Can? We? Save? Africa? blog: Our inability to see privilege as a systemic ecology has lead us to a type of philanthropy that produces disturbing imagery of African as miserable creatures in various stages of death and dying. The recipients of our philanthropy are cast as one dimensional passive victims. We fail to allow [...]
Why is the knee-jerk response to tragedy to ask: What can I do? Why do we see the victims of something entirely out of anyone’s control and say: Where can I give? Tragedy is a looming reminder of our mortality, a derisive snort to the belief in our own free will, a billboard message that [...]
Tags:Japan
There has been much wonderful discussion in the blogosphere addressing the issue of how to give in response to the crisis in Japan, led by Saundra as she continues to round up the latest news on whether Japan is even accepting help from other governments or NGOs. Then there’s these headlines: Japan Doesn’t Need Your [...]
The earthquake/tsunami/nuclear explosion/economic meltdown in Japan is horrifying. And it’s sparking a wave of giving around the world. Saundra Schimmelpfennig rightly points out that giving in response to a tragedy is fraught with potential pitfalls, from donors over-restricting funds to lack of coordination to poor workmanship to whether the country even wants your stuff at all. [...]
It’s been around for a bunch of years, this Twitter thing, and I know others have gotten used to it, but I still feel ridiculous saying: “I tweeted.” But I must. Because I do. Recently about this story of Ugandan students, a group of former child soldiers, who wished to make a donation to an [...]
