-About a Girl-
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Vaiy SamMonday afternoon, I was walking through the plaza all by myself, minding my own business as I waited for time to pass to catch Pirates of the Carribean two with some guy. I enjoy these solitary walks, because I get to tsk-tsk to myself at the tacky fashions people wear, or bitch about the penrith life in my head without having to worry about my companion getting offended.
So anyway, upon reaching the top of the escalators, I was confronted with the dreaded World Vision Booth. *Cue dramatic music*
I say dreaded, because I'm on two minds about World Vision: On one hand, its a great charity - spare a measly 39 dollars a month, and you can make a kid's life so much more livable. But on the left is the whole concept of its sponsorship programme: Out of the millions of kids they put up pictures and stories of, pick one. And to me, charity should NEVER be about favoritism, its whoever who needs it the most.
Imaginary scenario:
Typical Aussie chick sees World Vision booth.
She is compelled to take a peek at the sea of orange cards featuring faces of financially deprived, melnourished kids.
Out of the 50 hungry faces staring at her, one catches her eye.
"Oh look! That little African boy is such a cutie! How can anyone resist that gap-toothed smile and wide, hungry eyes? Lets sponsor him!"
She sponsors poor little african boy. Poor little african boy happy. 49 other kids still needy.
Feel good now?
Sigh. I don't know about everyone else, but me, picking a child to sponsor is like choosing a puppy from a window. And how can treating an abundance of equally poor and needy fellow human beings like doggies in a petshop even begin to feel like an act of charity?
Back to my story...I approached to booth.
The world vision lady glanced at me, warm smile on face.
I smiled back. Looked down.
Oh god, rows and rows of insanely adorable yet dishearteningly deprived kiddies looking at me too.
*Tears fill my eyes.* Control, control. I wanted to adopt every single one of em.
The 5 year old girl from Mongolia. The 9 year old Ethiopian boy.
Which one? Which ONE???
After 10 heart-wrenching minutes of looking at faces, reading profiles, getting more and more emotional as I went through each one, I gave up. I couldn't chose. I thought, hey, the world vision lady would know which kid needs my miniscule $39 a month, I'll let her choose for me....and she friggin picked one at random.
At RANDOM!!
*Kim's heart falls to pieces*
I was about to retort, but after a bit of thought, I decided that hey, at least its better than picking a kid for what he/she looks like. Its a sponsorship, not a pageant.
And so, with willful reluctance (juxtaposition, oh yeah), I filled in my details, chatted with the lady for a bit, and was handed my envelope of stuff. Voila, my very own sponsor child.
His name is Vaiy Sam, he's from Cambodia and he's 6. On the back of the card is a little information about his situation (rural area, parents dont earn enough to provide for family, part of the Chulkiri Adp project), and even an address where I can post letters and pictures to him. I'm gona hold off the letters for as long as possible; what am I supposed to say?
"Hi my name is Kimberley, I wanted to sponsor a world vision kid but couldn't chose so I did the random route and I got you, so I guess we're stuck together"?
But all in all, I'm happy not so much as about myself but more for the kid. In all corny cliched-ness, I hope this motivates you yourself to do something in the name of charity...giving IS better than recieving.
=)
