AT this time of great calamities, such as Ebola in Sierra Leone and elsewhere, religious fighting in Palestine and Mesopotamia (Iraq), and the brutal redefinition of the frontiers of former USSR republics, it behoves us all to ensure that what money we can spare for overseas charities be directed as usefully and efficiently as possible.
In Oxford, Oxfam is the well-known and trusted choice of many, but with other famous and reputable charities it has joined the “Disasters Emergency Committee” which will direct your money (gift-aided) to the right people in Gaza (on this occasion) without your having to choose exactly who. (As recommended on television, www.dec.org.uk, Paypal and credit cards accepted, or text 70 000 to send £5 with no call charge).
I was surprised on Saturday to notice a charity I had never heard of with a very large, no doubt expensive, well-staffed display in Bonn Square. World Vision had there a mock-up of two very similar huts in Sierra Leone, both with similar inadequate furnishings for a large family, but one they had improved having a transparent plastic roof instead of a traditional opaque roof. Not what I would have thought was specially needed at the moment, if ever in the tropics. The indoor cooking and heating facilities were also improved by providing a sort of chimney. I asked why I had never heard of them, and they explained it was because they save money by not advertising.
They are a Californian Christian organisation. There was no mention of this at all. According to Wikipedia, “The World Vision Partnership and all its national members are committed to the concept of transformational development, which is cast in a biblical framework and in which evangelization is an integral part of development work”. You may or may not prefer that to www.dec.org.uk, but now at least you know.
Roger Moreton, Warwick Street, Oxford
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- Today’s letters
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