General Mackevili wrote:

Jacobincambodia wrote: Thoughts anyone?

My first thought was that this thread needs to be moved to the VIP Nightlife section (based the title).

Carry on.

5 Reasons poverty porn empowers the wrong person

This is a brilliant article that discusses the flaws and dangers of programs that advertise themselves using 'poverty porn', ads that depict human beings in physical states that we would never allow a loved one to be photographed in because of the lack of dignity - we've all seen it, the $40 a month that can change the life of this individual child with the big brown eyes. While not for a moment suggesting that all sponsorship programs are flawed, I think it's time to hold to account those organizations that are NOT doing exactly what they say they are with your donation dollars - and from my first-hand experience most are sadly not. It's also time to shine a light on any organization that sells 'aid abroad opportunities' to naive young people who pay ridiculous amounts of money to undertake 'internship' placements that are in fact little more than revenue raising for unscrupulous operators disguised under the cloying coat of an NGO, or worse, some religion.

The reality is that globally we are making headway on poverty - the sad reality is that the majority of aid dollars are siphoned off by corrupt individuals, companies and complete governments to create whole new ruling middle-classes of wealthy who become richer than their brethren not by hard work out education, but by cronyism on an unthinkable scale - while donor nations wink and turn a blind eye from the guilt of supporting despot rulers like Pol Pot.

Some very challenging food for thought.

http://www.one.org/us/2014/04/09/5-reas ... ng-person/