Wednesday, January 5
Donate--but to where?
I wanted to donate money to the relief effort in South Asia, but I wasn't certain where I wanted my money to be spent. My first instinct was to donate to the wonderful organization Médecins Sans Frontières (aka Doctors without Borders). However, their web site mentioned that they have, in fact, received more than enough money for their South Asian relief effort, and while the group could always use money (heck, what non profit group can't), I felt that, in this case, I'd donate to an organization that desperately needed the funds right now.
So I went in search of another organization. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of groups that need help right now. However, I remember reading a recent interview Roger Ebert did with Sri Lankan resident Arthur C. Clarke, who did, indeed, survive the tsunami and is now trying to help all he can (despite his approaching age). What was Sir Arthur's suggestion for donations? A small, Sri Lankan-based organization called Sarvodaya. He says Sarvodaya is "the largest development charity in Sri Lanka, which has a 45-year track record in helping the poorest of the poor," and has mounted a "well-organized, countryside relief effort, well above ethnic and other divisions." I checked out the web site and found more information about the group, its history, and its mission:
For these reasons and more, I decided to put my donation money behind Sarvodaya. I would encourage anyone else out there to do the same.
So I went in search of another organization. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of groups that need help right now. However, I remember reading a recent interview Roger Ebert did with Sri Lankan resident Arthur C. Clarke, who did, indeed, survive the tsunami and is now trying to help all he can (despite his approaching age). What was Sir Arthur's suggestion for donations? A small, Sri Lankan-based organization called Sarvodaya. He says Sarvodaya is "the largest development charity in Sri Lanka, which has a 45-year track record in helping the poorest of the poor," and has mounted a "well-organized, countryside relief effort, well above ethnic and other divisions." I checked out the web site and found more information about the group, its history, and its mission:
The Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement started 47 years ago. Sarvodaya is Sanskrit for "Awakening of All", and Shramadana means to donate effort. Beginning in just one village and extending the movement to a total of more than 15,000 has been a fascinating adventure. Initially it involved an education program aimed at enabling students and teachers to live and work with the most remote village communities in Sri Lanka to assist with their self help initiatives. Within nine years, however, the “service learning program” had expanded into a full-fledged development movement in hundreds of villages, with the goal of a comprehensive and nonviolent social transformation. During its first 15 years, Sarvodaya grew with hardly any foreign aid or state support.
By the late 1970s, the Sarvodaya Movement, with support from partner organizations in more prosperous countries, became capable of reaching nearly every part of Sri Lanka. The program of self-reliance, community participation, and a holistic approach to community “awakening” appealed not only to the people in poor communities, but also to donors. Thousands of young women and men learned how to motivate and organize people in their own villages to meet the ten basic human needs, ranging from a clean and adequate drinking-water supply to simple housing and sanitation, communications facilities, an energy supply, education, and ways of satisfying spiritual and cultural needs.
For these reasons and more, I decided to put my donation money behind Sarvodaya. I would encourage anyone else out there to do the same.
