I doubt anyone can forget the devastating hurricane that left New Orleans in shambles. And I hope no one forgets how much money people donated in order to rebuild New Orleans.
Still, 4 years later and nothing significant has been done. And during this time of outreach many non-profits got disgustingly greedy and their lack of organization (or whatever) lead to a HUGE mismanagement of funds which the people of New Orleans have still not received.
Please, please, please don't let this happen to Haiti.
I see many parallels between the crisis in New Orleans and the devastation in Haiti. Both places were very poor (if not the poorest) and the death toll in both places was (and is) so high due to horrible infrastructure and no action taken before the travesty from either local or international governments.
Now, another parallel is emerging and I hope it fades to black really quick. Many hoaxes are arising claiming that if you send money to a specific organization it will benefit the victims in Haiti.
One hoax, stated that UPS would ship up to 50 lbs. to Haiti for free. TOTALLY FALSE!
Even celebrities like Wyclef Jean, who is from Haiti, is accused of using funds for his Haitian non-profit for personal expenses! WTF MATE?!
So, if you have extra cash to send to Haiti, that's great, but please don't just give it to any organization claiming to give aid to Haiti.
Do your research and just to get you started, Medecins sans Frontiers (aka Doctors without Borders) is an amazing organization who's main mission is to provide medical services for those in need most. They do not discriminate against race, sex, religion, or political alliances; they just focus on helping people.
We can't just throw money at problems, we as consumers need to empower ourselves by doing our research before we buy things or give aid to non-profit organizations. One way to tell how accountable a charity or non-profit is by the way their disclose their financial documents.
To see financial disclosures for non-profits in USA go to Guidestar, an organization that gathers and publicizes information about nonprofit organizations.
Please think before you give. And if you want to find out more about horrible non-profit mismanagment, I highly recommend Naomi Klein's, The Shock Doctrine.
UPDATE: This article entitled, "Don't give money to Haiti" breaks down why just throwing money at Haiti will not solve its problem, especially because if it wasn't considered a failed state before the quake (which it was) it most certainly is now. And that means that there is no accountability or personnel able to properly allocate the funds to those who need it most. Please read it and understand that in an era of altruism, nothing is as simple as it seems.
1 comment:
So true. Great post.
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