Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Donation in Kind in the Pacific



from w
A couple of weeks ago our friend Joy Baxter addressed a Rotary Club in Geelong about her recent trip to Fiji and the unloading of a container with goods for Vanua Levu, mainly for the Dreketi area. I was disappointed a few weeks ago to read in a Fiji Paper a statement by someone in a NGO that criticized the Uplift Fiji project of providing bras to the women in inland villages and settlements. Their argument was that this encourages a dependency situation. I don't think so. The women who started this project thought the gifts would be good medically not just socially. The donors that I know and the volunteers at the Geelong depot work very hard and those who do travel to the Pacific Islands on work-camps develop a good relationship with the local people. I do not think it is about dependency but about relationships and good will.

Donation in Kind particularly focus on schools, hospitals and rural projects. so, is it desirable to give computers to the children of the South Pacific? Yes, I think so.

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