why has their been such a poor response (donation-wise) to the pakistan floods?

[Anonymous]

OP here - I had to chime in - birth control is absolutely allowed in Islam and my dad, in the 60's, was a volunteer who would teach men in rural villages about population control and how to use condoms... He's a very conservative quiet man, and I always smile thinking about his "wild" past discussing correct condom usage.


again, thanks for the posts to help me understand why the floods are so off the radar... i have also found the news media very lacking in coverage. I can only assume that its not popular to care abbout hungry, sick Muslim children right now. Very sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I had to chime in - birth control is absolutely allowed in Islam and my dad, in the 60's, was a volunteer who would teach men in rural villages about population control and how to use condoms... He's a very conservative quiet man, and I always smile thinking about his "wild" past discussing correct condom usage.


again, thanks for the posts to help me understand why the floods are so off the radar... i have also found the news media very lacking in coverage. I can only assume that its not popular to care abbout hungry, sick Muslim children right now. Very sad.

Islamic Relief poster here. It's been interesting (and a bit sad) to get a little glimpse on this thread into why people apparently do or do not donate.

[Anonymous]

I want to add that these are difficult times for many on this side of the Atlantic. When you're struggling here so much with 10% unemployment with little positive economic news, it's difficult to reach into one's pocket not trusting that the donations will reach their destination.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:op here - i kind of guessed all of the above reasons (minus the hateful racist comment from one poster - and 1 billion in aid is nothing), but its very sad for me, especially considering the people on this website seem to generally be well-educated, cultured, and diverse... as for the person who doesn't think its their problem b/c its far away... i think one of common perrceptions of America for people abroad is a selfish minority that controls the majority of the world's wealth, which has probably contributed to extremism. And I wonder if you also didn't contribute to Haiti, because it wasn't your country. And did you contribute to Katerina, because that's nowhere near DC? And do you contribute to children's hospital? It serves mostly black patients; if you're not black, should you bother, since its not your community or your problem? What happened to our global America?

unffortunately, starvation and the death that will ensue will only turn ordinary oblivious people (farmers) into targets for terrorists for recruitment. its the marginalized who are easy to recruit, you know? there's a great book called "spokesman for the despised" that sums up this theory really well.

I am the pp who doesnt give bc I like to contribute to the causes close to me. For me, that means my religious organization, my country of ancestry, my family, my children's schools, and other causes that are "close to me heart" although not necessarily geographically. My life has nothing to do with Pakistan. I also did not contribute to China, India, Chile, etc. I gave a very specific, targeted donation to Haiti. Unfortunately, I do not have unlimited resources and have to choose where to contribute. Pakistan is not one of those places.

Agree with this poster. I give to my family (many who have fallen on very hard times), my kid's daycare and preschool, charities that work on issues that have affected my life (heart disease, breast cancer, etc), local area charities (i.e. donating a TON of school supplies to area schools that desperately need them), and causes that affect the area I grew up in and still have a ton of family. There are many, many causes out there so I think you are acting a little self-righteous in criticizing others choices to where they donate their money. I feel strongly that we have so many issues right in our own back yard that I mainly choose to donate to those causes.

[Anonymous]

I agee with the sentiment that there are enough struggling people here in the states who need help. Food pantries are at all time lows, people are losing their homes, unemployment has run out for many, foodstamps were just cut, homelessness is on the rise, people are still recovering from Katrina. I'm sure if were Pakistani i would send money back home, but I'm an American and I'm going to help my neighbors first. I prefer to give to local charities that I KNOW have almost NO OVERHEAD and provide direct relief to people in need.

[Anonymous]

OP, get off your high horse.

[Anonymous]

OP, I think it's a combination of the recession and the impression that Pakistan continues to actively shelter anti-American terrorists, with the blessing of militant sympathizers in the Pakistani government intelligence service. And that is not the same as being "anti-Islam"---there was an enormous outpouring of resources from the United States in response to the December 2004 tsunami---and the country most affected by that disaster was Indonesia, one of the world's most populous Muslim countries. And---to go back to the first reason---2004/2005 was the height of economic boom times, so people were especially generous to the tsunami victims.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I think it's a combination of the recession and the impression that Pakistan continues to actively shelter anti-American terrorists, with the blessing of militant sympathizers in the Pakistani government intelligence service. And that is not the same as being "anti-Islam"---there was an enormous outpouring of resources from the United States in response to the December 2004 tsunami---and the country most affected by that disaster was Indonesia, one of the world's most populous Muslim countries. And---to go back to the first reason---2004/2005 was the height of economic boom times, so people were especially generous to the tsunami victims.

Impression? No fact.

[Anonymous]

OP, it has nothing to do with Pkst's religion or geographical position. Americans just can't see anything but their on belly buttons!
We had some bad flooding going on in Brazil a few months ago and I didn't see a line in any American paper about it.
BTW my mom is asking me how's the media coverage of the disaster here abt pkst and I told her that they show very little. back home in brazil the pkst flood is all over the news!

[Anonymous]

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/08/23/pakistan.flood.camp/index.html#fbid=vcAg7f1Sq7E&wom=false

[Anonymous]

OP, thanks for starting this conversation. For me one of the things that's going on is that I've been confused about what the crisis is. There's been a lot of flooding, but the death tolls on the news seem ridiculously low. I'm also assuming that there are the usual problems of hunger & disease following the flooding, but I haven't heard anything about them. Is that because it's impossible for journalists to travel to the places where actual suffering is going on? I keep hearing that it's a dreadful crisis, and every few days the news says that there will be more rain that will make things worse

I tried to educate myself about this last week, and Googled a bunch of maps of the flooded area. That helped a little. OP, do you have any other resources you can recommend? Honestly, I feel like I need something on the Weekly Reader level, because I'm just not understanding--and I really want to.

And my condolences on the pain & anxiety I'm sure you're feeling as this happens in your home country.

[Anonymous]

14:50 here. While I was carefully constructing my begging for information, someone else posted it. Thanks, 14:48. I'll try to educate myself about this.

[Anonymous]

You don't hear much about in the news - it's easier to send a camera crew to Haiti and Chili (trapped miners), than to send a camera crew half-a-world away to Pakistan...which has very rough terrain. So even if reporters could get there, it's not like they can start recording, they need translators, a reliable mode of transportation, etc.

So, if the media isn't pushing it in our faces (like Haiti and Katrina and even the Bali tsunami) than it's pretty much out of sight and out of mind.

And if I do donate...how do I know that my hard earned, recession laden money isn't intercepted by the bad guys???

[Anonymous]

OP--
I posted in the Website Feedback forum about this. Jeff says he'd be willing to put in a button or something to make it easier for DCUM readers to donate. But he needs to know a reputable organization (preferably non-government, non-religious) to donate to. Reply to him at http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/123343.page

If Jeff can set it up, I promise I'll use the button to donate!

[Anonymous]

You can text SWAT to 50555 to donate $10 to the UN's UNHCR.