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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

compassion fatigue?

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Reading in the paper today, I came across an article dictating the UN's urgent need for finances in their aid to Pakistan (photo on right is from the Wikipedia). Here's a short excerpt:

With hundreds of villages marooned and highways cut in half by swollen rivers, food rations and access to clean water have only been provided to around 500,000 of the millions of flood survivors... "We have a country which has endemic watery diarrhea, edemic cholera, endemic upper respiratory infections and we have the conditions for much much expanded problems"..."We cannot spend pledges. We can not support Pakistan with pledges. I urge the international community to urgently change pledges into cheques." (quotes given by UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia Daniel Toole) (my emphasis)


We Canadians can donate via the UNCHR (the UN refugee agency for Canada- link to donate is right on the main page) or directly through UNICEF. Americans & Worldwideians can donate via the UNICEF website as well. Just select your country from the dropdown list, hit submit, and you've reached the form.

Appeals like this are made when they are needed. Appeals like this are met when we humans do what we can in response; when we refuse to grow tired of being compassionate.

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