A while back ago I thought it would be interesting to write about all the different charities that call, write or email me looking for a donation of time or money. It’s only appropriate that I start with Medecins Sans Frontieres. They contacted me first, hoping to start their 2007 campaign early.
Doctors Without Borders is by far my favorite charity out there. Here are the quick stats:
- Formed in 1971 by a group of French doctors, the organization seeks to aid those in need worldwide (hence, the “sans frontieres”).
- They are open about where the money goes: in 2005 most of the funds went to program activities (which is the the norm). The rest went towards management and fundraising.
- DWB’s goal is to direct 85% or more of spending to relief progams and have done so since 1995.
- DWB goes where the conditions are the worst, the most dangerous – Rwanda, Chad, Darfur, the Ivory Coast…
- In 1999 DWB was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
- In 2004 The Discovery channel exposed the world to the work of DWB through the voice of Kiefer Sutherland and the visuals of Crisis Zone
I have been donating to DWB for eight years now. I was introduced to their work after reading a bio on a volunteer doctor from Australia who traveled to a dark jungle country. That’s what grabbed me: the without borders part. This Australian went to a country where he was instantly an outsider just by the color of his skin. The conditions were incomfortable at best, consistantly dangerous at worst. A country in a state of civil unrest. Hundreds of such giving people travel to foreign parts of the world, leaving behind comforts both psychological and physical. It’s hard to ignore people doing such good things.
For further reading:
Hope in Hell
~*LunaSea*~ 