Sunday 22 December 2013

Humanitarian Aid ?

A friend recently offered this heading as a fair description of what GOES does. Somehow, it's not as I see it. 'Humanitarian Aid' suggests to me the emergency evacuation of thousands of people from a place devastated by war or natural disaster. It's the territory of OXFAM or the Red Cross or any of a thousand huge organisations.
GOES is just a group of family and friends who raise what money they can to help a few families in urgent need in a tiny African country. The fact that we can't do more doesn't stop us doing what we can. We've been going for a few years and I think people trust us. Donate £X and that amount of money will go directly to a person who needs it. Nothing is deducted for 'expenses' - we pay those ourselves.
We also donate a proportion of our pensions to the charity. We don't know all the answers - we don't understand many of the questions, such as why the place where human life started should be one of the poorest places on our beautiful planet today? Having to say 'No, sorry we can't help' is the hardest part. We never promise what we can't deliver.
Our New Year resolution is to keep on trying.
PS - I'm still trying to load those pictures!

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