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Thursday, September 1, 2005
Dutch Red Cross starts fund raiser for hurricane victims |
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And good for them!
Earlier today, the Dutch government offered the American government assistance in the form of expertise.
Also earlier today, I made a pledge for a national fund raiser. (If only all my wishes were granted this quickly.)
The American government obviously isn't prepared to tackle the current disaster on its own, which is why the relief organizations operating in the affected area need our help. Those organizations are virtually entirely dependent on charity. Some of them even refuse government grants to maintain their independence. However, many Dutch don't have credit cards and are thus unable to donate directly to the American Red Cross if they want to.
To my great relief, the Dutch Red Cross now has offered a solution to this problem. Those of you who want to chip in, can now transfer your contribution to giro 19800.
A few commercials during unsold commercial slots bringing the account number under the attention of a larger audience wouldn't hurt, but hey, it's progress.
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23:12 |
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Dutch government offers aid |
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Earlier today, fellow Dutchman Bart offered the following questions regarding the Katrina disaster:
• Where are the Dutch marines from Aruba?
• Where are the Dutch "water management" engineers?
• Why aren't there planes on the way with special equipment and pumps?
• Where is the Dutch field hospital? (public health is going to be a huge problem)
To which I can answer that the Netherlands has offered a dike inspection team which is on standby for immediate departure to the USA.
Je maintiendrai! Now, where's the:
• Humanitarian aid?
• Dutch navy armada? We have a *huge* hospital ship.
• Statement of secretary Ben Bot of Foreign Affairs, in which he offers his sympathies to the American people in their hour of need?
And where's the Red Cross with a national fund raiser?
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10:12 |
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Pray |
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I abandoned my Christian faith on the age of 19. Reading Thomas Aquinas ('Faith cannot contradict reason'), and to a lesser extent René Descartes, played an integral part in that process, which is all the more ironic since they both remained Christians until their respective deaths (although Descartes may have done that more to please those around him).
Nevertheless, I still understand the power of prayer, or meditation if you like. And I was reminded of that when I saw an episode from the series Babylon 5, in which station commander Jeffrey Sinclair has to introduce the concept of 'Earth religion' to a host of alien races.
So he guides the representatives of said races to a room where there's a line of people. And Sinclair starts to introduce them all:
'This is Mr. Harris. He's an atheist. Father Frisanti, a Roman Catholic. Mr. Hayakawa, a Zen Buddhist. Mr. Rashid, a Muslim. Mr. Rosenthal, an Orthodox Jew. Running Elk, of the Oglala Sioux faith. Father Papapolous, a Greek Orthodox. Ojijiko, of the Ebo tribe. Ochukiak, a Utic Eskimo. Sawa, of the Jivaro tribe. Ms. N'fuma, a Bantu. Ms. Chang, a Taoist. Mr. Blacksmith, an Aborigine. Ms. Yamamoto, a Shinto. Ms. Nigel, a Maori. Mr. Go, a Hindu...'
And his voice fades out as Sinclair continues to introduce more and more people, and more and more perspectives on God, to the baffled representatives.
Whenever I see that scene, I feel closer to whatever God is than I ever did when I still went to church.
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0:31 |
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A certain continent seems to be missing in this disaster map |
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Yes, according to the Dutch Red Cross, disasters happen all over the world, except in Australia, New Zealand and North America.
Could be they're just lazy updating their maps, but if that's true, the Dutch ministry of Foreign Affairs is suffering from the same tardiness. Their press release section contains a lot of stuff about outfitting the Palestinian security forces with new kit, but nothing about helping out the victims of Katrina.
To be fair, the Dutch Red Cross does mention the disaster - but you have to scroll down on their homepage. There's no call for donations either, something that isn't omitted from the most recent article on their website, which is about the former Green Party leader kicking of a campaign to raise funds for combating the famine in Niger. I agree, that's important too. But why make a choice? What's so hard about adding the 'please donate' line to the Katrina article as well?
Thanks guys, for making me feel proud to be Dutch. It's a good thing America stopped giving us Marshall Aid in 1952, a year before the dikes in Zeeland broke. Otherwise, I might feel cheap or something.
Well, the good thing about a government is that you can do as you please with the money they didn't take from you. So I've decided to donate directly to the hurricane victims in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. May I kindly encourage my fellow Dutchies to do the same.
I chose a small organization as I'm very skeptical of huge charities such as the Red Cross. And any other sort of large organization, for that matter. Also, the added advantage of this outfit is that they accept smaller amounts. Plus, you can pay through PayPal.
Maybe America doesn't need our help, but the government could at least have offered it. As far as I know, they haven't. Both my father and I are ferocious news consumers. Neither of us heard any official making a statement of the kind, which is bad, or even heard a journalist pop the question, which, I'm sad to say, doesn't surprise me in the least.
Rest assured that the ministry of Foreign Affairs will have an angry citizen calling tomorrow.
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0:13 |
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