Dear Odhiambo The mercy train, rotary international, lions, red cross and wfp and other ngo's are doing a commendable job. My viewpoint is in agreement with you that is teaching to fish is better then fishing. The fact to remember is that is a longterm goal. If there are no people left to fish, who will you hand the economic development plate to ? Consider for instance the dying in Turkana, Ukambani to name a few. Most are people that like you and me had a sustainable income. Today they are helpless. It could happen to any one of us. I take you back to the story of Joseph (pbuh) in Eygipt. He taught people to store grain for the draught under devine guidance. We need to teach people this for the future. In this regard you are quit right. But aleviating suffering even if it means handouts is our duty until those affected can stand on their own feet. Mankind only needs an 6 by 5 piece of land when they leave this world. What we spend and give others is what we save. In conclusion, my deepest desire is to activate as many as possible to give selflessly. Help because we can... Who knows what end of the stick we will be tommorrow. Athar On 5/27/09, Odhiambo ワシントン <odhiambo@gmail.com> wrote:
On Wed, May 27, 2009 at 12:59 PM, Athar Ahmad Bhatti <atharab@gmail.com>wrote:
Dear Friends
We need to be our brother's and sister's keeper. The drought situation, increase in basic food prices and other obvious reasons become unbearable for the mwanainchi. I believe we should celebrate little about undersea cables and more about how we can aleviate the plight of our fellow citizens. Our's is a sharing profession. One of the leading figures of our industry, Bill Gates has given the majority of his wealth to a charitable trust...
I open this thread to I pray hopefully cause action. If we cannot contribute cash, why not use the power of the internet to flood websites of humanitarian institutes begging for food relief for Kenya. Posting and contribution to youtube videos about the situation. Writing realn stories on the plight. Setting up blogs, reserving a minimal sum for csr and the like. Please my sisters and brothers let us share helping our fellow family as we share technology. We cannot feed cables to our people, and economic change is longterm. I urge that we get mobilised and help. Athar
Athar,
What, if I may ask, did you find particularly not right with the Mercy Train initiative? You could have used it, rather than want to create another replica! And what needs to be done is NOT to give alms, but rather to push the govt to have policies that will ensure citizens are self-sufficient. What %age of the National Budget does the govt allocate to Agriculture (and food production in general)? Let us find ways of solving the actual problem. Charity will never solve the problem. **Reminds me of the TED Video yesterday at skunkworks meeting - Mwenda from UG*** though I still don't get what this TED thing is all about.
-- Best regards, Odhiambo WASHINGTON, Nairobi,KE +254733744121/+254722743223 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ "Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society." -- Mark Twain
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