Daniela Papi's Blog

Many people write to us and tell us they have clothing and pencils to donate. Others say they want to do a collection and ship "things" over. This is tricky, because although the intentions are good, "things" can sometimes be less useful to NGOs than you would think, and then those "things" can create dependencies and inequalities if doled out.

So many "voluntours" give out "things". There is a new tour operation here in Cambodia where you can pay $55 US for a day tour in a rural area, ride an ox cart, and "hand out school supplies to a needy family." Really!

What relationship does the organization have with that family? Did the family need/want school supplies? I wont even go on..... not that we haven't done similar things to start out. My goodness.... You can pay $55 to have the chance to give a family school supplies... I can't even begin to discuss or I won't go to bed tonight.

For those looking to support an NGO, if you want to give "things", make sure that the NGO NEEDS/wants those "things". Same of course goes for us NGOs when going out into the world. Ask what the specific wish list is, as "things" which fall outside of that wish list can just cause more headaches for the organization to import, manage, store, distribute, track, etc than necessary! The other thing to keep in mind is that in many developing countries, "things" are cheap! Some people spend $50 to send us supplies which would cost us less than $50 to purchase here..... WHERE is the logic in that I ask?

OK, enough about things. It's late, and I'm off to bed. PEPY's "Golden Week" (Japanese national holiday) Volunteer Trip is here now - and the team of 11 is off to their rainwater collection building site early in the morning! Goodnight!