Google Earth Community: Darfur

Hi Dioneo and welcome to Google Earth!

Of course you are absolutely right. There is corruption everywhere including 3rd world countries. Some see donations as a "band aid", some even object to the idea saying it stifles development. There are many views on the matter and, as you correctly state, it remains an open question of just how much difference one individual's contribution is going to make to the overall picture.

Some people prefer to support organizations that aid in development (for example education, infrastructure and so on) rather than emergency food or medical supplies. That is fine and there are strong arguments in favor of this view.

Some people prefer non-denominational charities, preferring to see their money going toward food or digging wells rather than bibles. That is fine too, notwithstanding the mostly very excellent record religiously-affiliated charities have had for centuries and many still do.

Some people prefer to contribute with their time instead of money. Be it in the realm of political agitation, lobbying, volunteering, what have you. That is fine too.

And some (I hope many) play a small role every day : when they go shopping, for example (eschewing coffee from a multinational, say, in favor of something like FairTrade , or in their choice of companies and organizations they chose to do business with. That is fine too.

The reason I posted that particular message in the first place was because I was struck by the new imagery available over Darfur at the time. It seemed an almost painful juxtaposition, to be sitting there viewing all this destruction from the comfort of my own home and knowing that millions more around the world were doing likewise. Plus someone had posed the (possibly rhetorical) question "what can we do?" and so I replied with a couple of suggestions. What you say about corruption is quite true and I think that every person will take considerations such as those on board when they make their own personal decisions about what they 'can do'. However I don't think it means we 'can do' nothing. We can. Simply being aware of it is a start - and for this, Google Earth is a marvelous tool.

Thank you again for your comment and I hope you have a lot of fun browsing this crazy and beautiful planet!

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