Honestly, it's one of my favorite places we went. It's so ghetto, but so rocking. The men, women and even kids didn't immediately like or trust us. In a lot of these villages the kids are taught to run if they see a "Mazungu" (white person). I can only imagine what we looked like waltzing through their community with our cameras.
Janja had appointments for her interviews, so we were expected. And we were really respectful not to overstep our bounds. Well....Kevin did run after some of the kids with his arms over his head yelling, "Mazungu!" "Mazungu!" but the kids loved it, so, it's all relative.... As I walked thru the village a lot of the women would grab their children or hide/protect them when I turned my camera on. Others were into it so I tried to be sensitive to their wishes as much as I could read them.
So, why were we there, anyway? Well, Raising Malawi has a board seat on NOVOC, Network of Organizations for Vulnerable and Orphan Children. NOVOC works with the local CBOs throughout Malawi to help them build their capacity for orphan care. Raising Malawi provides NOVOC (among other organizations) substantial financial aid and other resources to make that happen.In this village, we're helping to build an Orphan Care Center. And we recently put in a pump so they can get fresh water. I'll show more of that in another blog entry. Actually, in this clip, you *may* notice Philippe off in the distance grilling the head of NOVOC (who is so nice) on all the facts and fine points of exactly what has been accomplished in this village since our last visit. It was good to hear. We're really holding these organizations to task.
Anyway, here's 3 1/2 mins of the peri-urban struggle and bliss to give you a feel for the vibe.
1 comment:
The charity 'Raising Malawi' (PR firm) founded by Madonna AND TWO OTHERS over three years ago held fund raisers for over two years before finally getting registered as a non-profit. In other words, Madonna and the others were free to squander the lion's share of that funding any way they saw fit for those first two years. She also pleaded with her fans worldwide for donations along the way. In the meantime, she toured the world to promote her latest CD and raked in another $280,000,000 gross in just over 12 months. To date, the basic financial info for 'Rasing Malawi' still hasn't been posted on the website or anywhere else. The 'progress' page only tells of the collective works by over 20 seperate charities. Each of which have their own sources of funding and may have recieved some sort of promotion or support from 'Raising Malawi' in order to be considered 'partners'. But no indication is made how much of their funding came from 'Raising Malawi' or how much of their progress if any could be directly attributed to 'Raising Malawi'. The fans/donors have no clue how many millions of dollars were raised in that first two years, no clue how much Madonna herself chipped in, and no clue how the money was spent before they finally registered as a non-profit. No clue what tiny little fraction of funding or works listed on that 'progress' page could be directly attributed to 'Raising Malawi'. Nothing to go on but the vague word of Madonna. The vague and very misleading word of Madonna. For example: She states in her latest promotional video that she will match any contributions made to her charity (PR firm) "dollar for dollar". However there is a disclaimer posted on the website for 'Raising Malawi' that Madonna's total contribution will not exceed $100,000. Thats not per donation. Thats a maximum of $100,000 TOTAL. Less than a single days pay for Madonna. Also much less then she will surely rake in by promoting her own CDs, DVDs, and 'for profit' merchandise through this massive worldwide publicity stunt. So I called the office of 'Raising Malawi' in an attempt to verify some sort of efficient financial operation (310) 867-2881 or (888) 72-DONOR). These details are ALWAYS made available by legitimate charities to their potential donors. But not in this case. I got nothing but recorded messages and hangups. So I did some research on my own. 'Rasing Malawi' still hasn't been given any kind of rating by ANY independent charity watchdog like Charitywatch.org. The vast overwhelming majority of 'celebrity' foundations never are. In general, they are inneficient and riddled with corruption. Like the promotion of CDs, world tours, commercial websites, entire lines of jewelry (not just the single piece from which proceeds are donated), and high end fashion retail flagship stores. Celebrity foundations are also notorious for squandering much of their funding on travel and super high end accomodations for their celebrity figure heads. Its legal even for a nonprofit but not noble or efficient by any stretch of the imagination. In general, 'celebrity' foundations are a twisted inefficient mutant of charity, self-promotion, and PR crap. They actually compete for funding with more efficient legitimate charities which do more work with less money. Its a sham. So if its not rated, then don't support it. Instead, support a top rated charity like any of those given high ratings at Charitywatch.org.
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