Ok what I'm about to paste below is something I stole from the UG forums that I found inspiring. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm gonna sound like an infomercial here, but maybe...just maybe, it will help ONE person to do something positive in the world. Ok people, think about this next time you are going to go buy a new pedal, cloths, guitar, car, house, yacht, plain, etc... For only $23 a month (77 cents a day) you can give a child in India food, shelter, clothing, and school supplies...wow. If you refrain from buying a soda everyday at school you could completely change a child's life. I think we have things a bit backwards in our "civilized" countries. We go buy our new Corvettes/brand name clothing without a second thought. We have million dollar houses and thousand dollar cars. We have all the food we want, we even throw the leftovers away. We HATE school, when half way around the world, kids can't even go to school. We get upset when our car's paint gets chipped, and half way around the world, a child walks a dozen miles to go to a school without computers, lunchrooms, or up to date curriculum. We are sooo damn spoiled that we get upset when our car breaks down... We have a freaking CAR!!! Yet we completely ignore the poverty stricken "minority" because ti would show us how ignorant/selfish/proud we are. We are pissin about where the new baseball stadium should be built when kids are starving to death. Does anybody else see how stupid the "1st world nations" are? We don't need to worry about weapons of mass destruction or terrorists...maybe one of the reasons we are hated so much is BECAUSE we are so blind to the truth? We have our multi-billion dollar corperations and our stock markets because we are civilized?... Why are we all so concerned about buying the next SOAD cd or the next PS2 game? We would go buy a computer game for 50 bucks in a heartbeat if it was "extra" money. Don't you see? There is NO such thing as "extra" money. It can all be used to help someone less fortunate. The only difference between you and that kid starving in India is that you were BLESSED enough to be born into a rich country and they weren't. Next time you see a cheesy infomercial about saving people from starvation/malnutrition picture that sad little boy as your brother or that little girl as your sister...or better yet, picture that child as YOU. Wouldn't you want somebody to help you? To anybody who bothered to read that, thank you. To anybody who bothered to DO something about it...you are a hero to a little boy or girl. Few people in life are worthy to be called a hero. To the people who glanced at the first few sentences then just left (even though you aren't reading this now), may you one day grow up and realize that the starving little boy or girl you happily ignored is worth far more than you. He/she has seen the worse life has to give, but you will complain about a scratched cd...you will pay, one way or another, for your idiocy. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After reading this, I really want to help out, but what organization can I trust? I would want to make sure my money is feeding needy children not money/power hungry fucks.
many schools of thought. Find a charity that you agree with (could be a local church) and check out how they spend money. Itf a group can't provide that, be wary. They could still be good, so ask what they do, what projects are complete, how many people are helped? Really know what is wrong in the country. The CIA world factbook is online, look up any nation. find newspapers from those countries, knowing not all press is free, and see what is being said. Find refugees locally and see what can be done in their homelands. Help out those in bad straights locally. Conscious Alliance raises $$ for food and projects on reservations. Some tribes need a bit more economid aid than others. Help at a local shelter. The "third world" is everywhere. use the dollars you do spend with co-operatives. Coffee to clothing can be bought that way. Peace Corps always needs a hand. Amnesty International does good work, and is willing to admit to mistakes. Oxfam has a good rep many aid shipments are hijacked, however, and wind up in the markets, helping some folks, but not as many. Anyone want to add to this list??
you can't really go wrong shopping at charity thrift stores. even if your unsure about how much money actually reaches the people who need it, at least its ecologically sound.
Meh, who cares? Maybe if their government's would get off their asses and do something useful they wouldn't be in their situations. The US isn't corrupt, it's the 3rd-world nations that spend all their money on nuclear programs and don't have anything left to feed their people with...not my problem, sorry. Good try, though.
So if a kid goes hungry cuz his dad wastes the money are booze, is it the kid's fault? No. Foriegn Aid only does so much good though, in tanzania, thier economy has had a grim slide for 2 decades. Yet they are the most supported country in the world.
goddam, this all comes as a surprise to me. Can you post any links to verify any of this...ummm, information?
Although the US isn't exactly innocent (no country is), we are not very corrupt when compared to third world nations. North Korea would be a prime example of a government that spends it's money on nuclear research instead of on its people. 3 million North Koreans have starved to death since 1994 because Kim Jong Il refused to allow foreign aid in. Even though most third world countries don't have nuclear programs, they can still be corrupt in other ways... The following is a list of countries ranked from 'least corrupt' to 'most corrupt'. As you can see, the least corrupted nations are developed nations. http://www.sq.4mg.com/corrupt.htm The list was produced by a group called Transparency International, a non-profit org. that works to end global corruption. You can read more about them here: http://www.transparency.org/index.html -Kate
So United States is the 19th most corrupt nation out of 129 major countries, right? ...and yes, I counted them all. The first corrupt underdeveloped nation is Cuba ranking in at number 42, the next is Syria at 65...so the least corrupt nations are actually underdeveloped nations, sweetie, since 63 out of the first 65 are developed; and North Korea didn't even make the list. U S imposed sanctions against North Korea might have a little to do with the millions starving, just like U S had put upon Iraq throughout the 90's. You didn't think I'd really go look at that page, didja?! Good link though, I think I'll bookmark it, thanks!
You obviously didn't read my post. I said they are ranked from LEAST corrupt to most corrupt, which means the US is the 19th LEAST corrupt nation, with Finland being the absolute least corrupt. The US and other countries tried to give food aid to North Korea, but Kim Jong Il refused it. And what made you assume I didn't think you'd look at the page?