donations based on race and religion?

Hangout GupShup Cafe
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This report saddens to me to a level I cannot even explain..

the disaster has been said to be worst than the tsunami and pak and haiti earthquakes combined.. yet the amount of donations they are getting are nothing in comparison…

what has the world come to where we are donating on the basis of religion and race?!

how many muslims donated when it came to the haiti earthquake and tsunami…?? There must have been a good million… why are these helpless people not getting the help they need… why?!

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Re: donations based on race and religion?

just a few days ago I was complaining about the same thing in my blog. And I had said "Perhaps if our government showed some concern, the rest of the world would too!" .... I cannot answer your question as to why Pakistan isn't getting the same kinda help from around the world but yes it is sad and pretty pathetic to be honest!

If it makes you feel any better, just yesterday I heard that a small group here in my city has organised a fundraising project for Pakistan in the local shopping mall ... so people are helping, pakistanis/non-pakistanis from around the world are contributing in one way or the other... I was watching a live fundraising appeal on TV the other day and people have donated as much 9000 pounds (individually)!!! Pakistan isn't getting the kind of attention it should be, but lets focus on the positive things, lets donate what we can and lets make loads of dua for Pakistan this Ramadan. May Allah swt help our country out of this mess!

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Re: donations based on race and religion?

it could also be donor fatigue.
but people do tend to give to causes close to them so your observation is correct
and then publicity and knowing the extent of impact is critical and it simply is not being covered as much as it should
Pakistani leadership could do better too, same with embassies in different countries.

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Re: donations based on race and religion?

Let me tell you the fears that even people in Pakistan have

1 . Corruption - NO ONE trust government . Neither from inside nor from outside
2 . Misuse of funds - Mostly people think it will end up with Taliban
3 . Inflation - Govt. already putting so many tax that its so hard to survive , how to donate on top of it .
4 . Foreign donors don't know any other routes to send money except the traditional ones , which they don't trust no more .
5 . Government is too royal to do anything . Ok seriously , we don't have a govt. here .
6 . People are no more motivated to help others . Recent wave of troubles made them numb .

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Re: donations based on race and religion?

i just dont think its getting the coverage it needs..

the tsnumi and haiti earthqake got sooo much coverage here in Aus... but noone even recalls the Earthquake in pakistan, back in 2006... and even know.. u will get one article in the World News section... and that is it. Noone even knows about what has happened.. unless they have flicked on World News... which hardly any gora might do.. i know its a generalisation... but when a disaster like the tsnami and Haiti is coming on normal tv channels... and an even in Pak doesnt even get a headline there.. it makes you wonder.

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Re: donations based on race and religion?

if u read the BBC news... it actually mentions that these islamic militants are actually the first ones to be lending a hand..

I dunno... i understand the fears of the nation, understand their desparation.... we ought to stand as one and get them to trust us.. I dunno.

When the earthquake happened in Pak last time... we had colleciton about $8k in donations here. The money was handed to a memeber of the organsation ti take back to pak and give it to aid there... u know what happened? the person went missing in Malaysia. Still they have not tracked the jerk down

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Re: donations based on race and religion?

^ Exactly . People are afraid to give out their money to any individual , political organization , government . They just don't trust no more .

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Re: donations based on race and religion?

yep, but then these for profit new cartels bias is not a secret. They broadcast what sells.

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Re: donations based on race and religion?

It is sad... I mean the urdu program this Sunday is doing a flood appeal hotline.. so people can call up and donate. I know there are many people who listen, but who? Just the Pakistanis maybe... the program is limited to a very small poppulation.

I am not sure how we can broadcast this on a national level or even an international lievel.

I guess having an idiot president doesnt help. People are thinking, if the leader of a nation can be so relaxed about it, why should all of us get so uptight? uguh

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Re: donations based on race and religion?

ugh, the govt in general has reacted in a blah way, the earthquake time call to action was greater.

now, as far as getting the word out goes, take it on yourself, pass it to friends..even if this means the percentage of people who are aware increase by 10% and quarter of them decide to donate, that goes a long way. email, facebook, whatever mode u have at your disposal.

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Re: donations based on race and religion?

What do you expect from other nations when your own president doesn't even give a damn about his own country? I'm just praying the flood doesn't hit Karachi.

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Re: donations based on race and religion?

im inclined to send out an email to colleagues or put a poster up somewhere in the tea room… not too sure how that will be taken.. A few of us are going on the phones over the weekend for the appeal. So lets hope the community wakes up.

If people can even adopt a family or child back home for sometime, that would be a start :k:

Aashiq… lets just pray for everyone. And then lets do something about it rather than waiting for an idiot to take charge… the world is full of intelligent dedicated people… u can see so many here on GS. If even half of GS poppullation donated.. it would be awesome

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Re: donations based on race and religion?

People are simply not aware of the extent of damage done. Out Govt and PEOPLE need to more. Other communities get really active if something happens in their country while most of the Pakistanis think that they have done their duty after sending $100 to Pakistan.

Plus some of the biasness get induced naturally.

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Re: donations based on race and religion?

People also believe that Pakistan is the center of world terrorism and they don't want to give to them. Rather like the AIDS epidemic, they just think Pakistan is getting what it "deserves".

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Re: donations based on race and religion?

I think that has a lot to do with it - particularly following Wikileaks allegations of ISI involvement in Afghanistan. Most rich countries in the world (incuding USA, UK, Australia etc) have lost soldiers in the fighting in Afghanistan, and their people are not inclined to be generous towards disaster relief for a country alleged to be backing their enemies in Afghanistan. Pakistan as a nation has not had good publicity in recent years.

It's like how North Kore lives in a state of famine, dependent on international food shipments, and yet no-one is seriously inclined to donate for food relief over there.

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Re: donations based on race and religion?

I can understand your emotions but these are not fears. People need to understand the difficult nature current scenario.

  1. The Federal govt and provincial govts are working tirelessly and running relief work on gigantic scale in flood affected areas. But the scale depends on resources. The govt have resources and they are putting in all out effort to reach people. In the end of the day they can reach 30~40% people in troubled flooded areas using 100% of avaialable resources.

  2. The Army :

The army of Pakistan alway plays a pivotal role in disaster rocovery programes in Pakistan. They are doing it now on massive scale because the flood affected areas are spread all over pakistan and it is beyond our imagination.
The relief effort is the on second priority, first is to rescue or evacuate people from flood hit areas. Which they have done, First in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhaw, then Punjab and they are doing it now in Sindh province.

They are doing it because
1. It is their duty which they always perform very well.
2. They have resources ( transportation , logistics, trained professional) which they can utilise then and serve and rescue people. They have done this in 2005 ( if you can remember we lost some valueable lives in tireless sorties ) and they are doing it now for past few weeks.

Pakistan Navy is doing huge effort in rescue operations in Sind province. With Helicoptors , boats and hovercrafts they are reaching people stranded in flooded areas.

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Re: donations based on race and religion?

^ good on them :k:

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Re: donations based on race and religion?

It is good no doubt but it is not enough. Despite govt's extraordinary effort and Army's huge operation they can reach 50~60% of the affectees in these vast areas. This means they can reach upto to 8/9 million people. You need huge resouces to meet the needs of people in this huge number on daily basis. Govt and army is doing it and we need to acknowlegde their work with respect. On the other side rest of the half population needs urgent assistance from Pakistanis living in Pakistan and outside pakistan. Today is August 11, 2010. It is hot and humid season in Pakistan. People stranded in remote areas of Pakistan where all their property and belonging has been washed away. They DO NOT need money right now, they will need it after 2,3 weeks. Right now, They need clean drinking water in their relief camps every day. They need packed liquids ( juices, milk, water etc in bottle or tetra packs) in huge quantity. Please keep in mind that there is no shortage of Food products in Pakistan. Pakistan is by grace of Allah is a food basket it self. This year Pakistan is 5th biggest producer of wheat in world, Same way, Pakistan is 4th biggest producer of Dairy products ( Milk) in whole world. Be it rice , sugar or anythign else You name it and I will tell you where Pakistan stands from 1 to 10 in global production ranking. There is no need to express you anger or frustration at slow response of International comunity in relief efforts in Pakistan. They are doing what they can. The first most prompt and biggest contribution came from USA. I am thankful to them.You, Pakistanis, the people need to understand what you need to do :-You need to buy following things in bulk quantitiy from within Pakistan and deliver them at Any NGO which is active in transportation of goods in these area. Otherwise, Deliver these cartons at Pak army camps because they have huge transportation network all over pakistan.1. cartons / crates of bottled mineral water. It is easily available everywhere and not much costly. Prefer 1.5 litre bottles2. Cartons /crates of juices in tetrapack in quater litre packing. They are also available everywhere and very nutritious for kids in those areas specially. They are also not costly. You can easily buy a full truck load in couple of hundred bucks (dollars)3. Cartons / crates of Milk in tetra pack in quater litre packing. It is essential nutrition for kids and infants and thier mothers. Buy as much as you can and deliver them at right spot on urgent basis. Note : Please do read carefully the Manufacturing date and Exp Dates written clrealy on these products cartons. Usually they are fresh but when someone is buying in bulk there is a posibility that seller might try to sell you older cartons. These products are required today, August 11, 2010 and onwards for couple of weeks until the situation improves. These things are basically required for kids and women trapped in those areas, other male adults will manage and find something on thier own.

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Re: donations based on race and religion?

the international media gobbles up and headlines any and all negative news coming out of pakistan, the rioting in karachi got more airtime on the news in US than the floods, why are they not covering this devastation with equal zest? not juicy enough? not wanting too much sympathy or aide for the country? and then people argue that there is no bias against us, bloody sad.

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Re: donations based on race and religion?

conspiracy