Charity Choices

Deciding which charity or charities to give to is quite the undertaking.

How do you decide? No matter how wide-ranging the charity you choose

you'll be leaving out large segments of the population.

Every week another request for funds comes in the mail: Red Cross,

Easter Seals, War Amps, World Vision, FH Canada etc etc.

Every week at school fundraising is going on: Jesse's Journey,

The Humane Society, Run for the Cure - there's just no end to it.

The choices I made about which charities I want to support have come out of my

trip to Jamaica. I started

with giving toys to a new daycare called "Happy Feet Daycare".

While in Jamaica I met with a government official whose portfolio covered

both education and Aids. I felt my heart strings being tugged the hardest by

those children who were HIV+ through no fault of their own and

for whom there was no place to go. No one wants them - there is still huge

fear and stigmatism in Jamaica for those known to be HIV+ and most end up on the

street. In Jamaica testing for aids in mothers-to-be is not mandatory

as it is here in Canada. Thus an infected mother passes the virus

on to her baby through the process of giving birth or by

breastfeeding. I also found out that there is a strong

correlation between domestic violence and women contracting HIV.

Women are unable to say "no" to their sexual partner because

of the fear of being beaten up and the fear of losing the person who supports

them financially. Culturally it is

expected that they

will submit.

So my choices became clear. I want to direct my support

to women and children who are: hungry, poor and living with

the HIV virus or living in fear of contracting it.

I want to help women get on their feet financially so that

they don't have to be dependent on someone who may beat them. I

want to help them get the medical care and preventative information

that could save their lives. I want to help children get an education.

And I want to feed them because

the need for food for over 1 billion chronically hungry

people is immediate and desperate.

www.kiva.org

(making micro loans to women to start up a business)

www.wfp.org

(feeding the most vulnerable/aids)

www.camfed.org

(campaign for female education/aids)

www.unaids.org

(United Nations programme on HIV/Aids)