Money

I went to a fundraiser tonight for a development project back in the motherland. This was a black tie event in a beautiful venue and, from what I gathered, raised a great deal of money. But no one was really there for the cause. I wasn't - my very close family friends are in charge of the organisation and basically insisted that we go. It was entertaining to say the least, but I'm not a fan of such events. An excuse for wealthy people to get together, donate some money to support their own status and maybe even assuage their collective conscience. If they really cared, there are so many more effective and efficient ways to make a difference for the very same cause. I shouldn't complain too loudly, I was there.

There was another event in the city earlier in the week where they raised closer to a million. I have done some work with the organisation that sponsored it in conjunction with the UNDP and remember the chairman being heavily criticised for high profile events. All said and done, he managed to consistently raise quite a bit of money from private donors. Despite my criticisms, I am stuck in a bit of a conundrum. I know these resources wouldn't be available if these events didn't solicit donations from high-income donors. I guess I just don't like the way it is done. Probably my own hangup, or 'chip' as my father would say, but why the need for such an extravagant affair? People drop upwards of $250 per ticket, of which about 60% is used just to cover costs. I know I'm stuck, and I'm too tired to go into this. My feet hurt because of my shoes and my legs are sore from my run in the morning. I'm hungry because the food was horrible and my head hurts because .. well because. Peace.