The tables have turned....
From today's Philippine Star....
The government will send a 25-member team of aid workers to the United States to help assist victims of hurricane Katrina, Malacanang announced yesterday.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Red Cross will send $25,000 in aid to the victims and will start a fund drive for them.
I have very mixed feelings about this.....
...I realise that the world is horrified by what has happened, what is still ongoing and what is still to come in the southern States, I realise that the world is trying to now do its part and help the 'Friendly Giant' that comes to the aid of others so willingly, I realise that the Philippines has a strong tie to the US and as such I can see it wants to do its part to help....I applaud the reaction of sending aid workers....
However, I cannot help but feel that the $25,000 would be of much greater use at home in The Philippines.....is that callous or small minded and am I missing a bigger picture here?
The Philippines is not alone in its generosity...other countries who are normally recipients of aid from the US are also being incredibly generous and offering money and help....even Cuba is offering to pitch in....
It shows a tremendous side of humanity that these third world, poverty stricken nations are so willing to do what they can....
Another statistic from my economic briefing the other day (please note - I am not an economist..and even more importantly I did not take the dates of the following stats).....the poverty line is PHP13,823 per annum per person (about US$250)....33.7% of the Philippine population lives below this line....as a little back up this article from the Manila Times will give you some further reading on an ADB report into poverty in the Philippines
The government will send a 25-member team of aid workers to the United States to help assist victims of hurricane Katrina, Malacanang announced yesterday.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Red Cross will send $25,000 in aid to the victims and will start a fund drive for them.
I have very mixed feelings about this.....
...I realise that the world is horrified by what has happened, what is still ongoing and what is still to come in the southern States, I realise that the world is trying to now do its part and help the 'Friendly Giant' that comes to the aid of others so willingly, I realise that the Philippines has a strong tie to the US and as such I can see it wants to do its part to help....I applaud the reaction of sending aid workers....
However, I cannot help but feel that the $25,000 would be of much greater use at home in The Philippines.....is that callous or small minded and am I missing a bigger picture here?
The Philippines is not alone in its generosity...other countries who are normally recipients of aid from the US are also being incredibly generous and offering money and help....even Cuba is offering to pitch in....
It shows a tremendous side of humanity that these third world, poverty stricken nations are so willing to do what they can....
Another statistic from my economic briefing the other day (please note - I am not an economist..and even more importantly I did not take the dates of the following stats).....the poverty line is PHP13,823 per annum per person (about US$250)....33.7% of the Philippine population lives below this line....as a little back up this article from the Manila Times will give you some further reading on an ADB report into poverty in the Philippines
posted by Madame Chiang at 11:21 pm
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