We've Got Enough Money. Thanks.

Ice storm yesterday. Yikes! We got sent home from work about noon, and I’m glad. Took me much longer than the normal 25 minutes to get home.

I heard on the radio that Doctors Without Borders did something unprecedented: they said they don’t need any more money. For tsunami relief. They have all that they need. Most organizations (like the Red Cross after 9/11) milk disasters for all they can get, even if their relief needs are met. Good for Doctors Without Borders! I just wish we could claim them as an American organization (it’s Belgian or Swiss or some other brand of European) or a Christian organization.

Doctors Without Borders does good work. They go into places in the immediate aftermath of disasters and civil wars, with the intention of staying only temporarily. They got our mission hospital in Sierra Leone, in the town of Mattru, back up and running, pouring many thousands of dollars into it. That hospital is very important to that region of the country, but it was ravaged and shut down during the lengthy civil war. It’s operating today only because Doctors Without Borders revived it. They left a couple years ago, and now the hospital is struggling to survive on its own in the Sierra Leonean equivalent of "peace time." But DWB did what they intended--come when help is needed most, provide it, and turn the work over to others.

I’ve heard too many stories over the years of organizations going into places to collect video for heart-rending fundraising appeals, and then leaving. Christian TV ministries seem to be the biggest culprits. They aren’t set up to have a continuing presence in foreign communities, but they definitely have access to donors. Groups like World Vision, World Relief, and others stay on-site for an extended period of time and make a difference. A TV evangelist comes in, shoots some video, collects donations from thousands of listeners, and leaves. Shouldn't happen that way.

Posted on January 6, 2005 05:57 PM|

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