Sunday, November 7, 2010

WORLD VISION - ETAGEGNE BIRHANU - WHO CAN WE TRUST ?

 
BEYOND BORDERS  - A film starring Angelina Jolie which features the Ethiopian famine in 1984 enraged the country's government because they say it provides an "untrue" image of the nation.
BBC News - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1874845.stm
 
I watch a lot of movies, old and new. When there is extreme violence or gore, I turn away or change the channel. And I am pretty wise about what is real and what is computer generated.
 
But, today, I thought I was going to be interested in an old movie about Ethiopia. What I saw was so horrible I couldn't bear it. It looked awfully real to me. Starving children, skin and bones, wounded, dying people. If these images were computer generated, it was the most realistic job I've ever seen - and I couldn't bear to watch any more of it.
 
I was moved to send another donation to Doctors Without Borders, but I was reminded about the little girl I sponsored in Ethiopia for five years through World Vision. Here is a letter I wrote about her and about World Vision, published in The Anglican Journal. It speaks for itself. When organizations are about statistics more than about human beings, what are we to do ? Who can we trust ?
 
Phyllis Carter
November 7, 2010
 
 
Found via Google. Actually published a few years ago but still online in June, 2010.
 
ETAGEGNE BIRHANU, NEAR ADDIS ABBABA
 
Cut off from child
 
Dear editor,
 
For five years, I have shared my social security widow's pension sponsoring a girl in Ethiopia.
 
Recently I received a letter from World Vision saying how successful the project has been, and now it is finished and they would like to me take on the sponsorship of another needy child. I would do this, except that World Vision seems to just drop the child and move to the next piece of business.
 
I am not allowed to communicate with my sponsored child again. I have no address other than World Vision, Addis Ababa. The child's family has no way of finding me. How cold! World Vision seems to be saying, "Just forget this child. We need your money for the other millions who are starving."
 
I am only one senior citizen living on my government pension. I do not sponsor "projects;" I share my limited means with a child I love.
 
I would be happy to hear from other reputable organizations which sponsor children in Africa but do not cut you off when the "project" is finished. I can be reached at (deleted here.)
 
Phyllis Carter
Montreal
 
 
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