Give to Ceasar what belongs to Ceasar!

Let me just start by commending all health care professionals in third world countries especially Zambia--I am constantly amazed by what they do!! I have just been watching something on a lady that pioneered www.savezambiasfuture.org (we’ll get back to that momentarily) and I just can’t get over how much work the nurses have to do and the giving nature of most people—it’s just amazing! I always want to give credit where credit is due and these individuals certainly merit more credit than these few lines and I will be back with a better post about it and the ‘brain drain’ in the near future!

Now: Forgive me God for I am about to sin! Forgive me women for I am about to speak ill of one of our own! Forgive me Zambia…! Lastly forgive me cousin Zaza coz the lady looks a little like you!

I came across some video while playing around on youtube.com yesterday. At first I thought it was just someone playing around with a video camera and then I realized that it was someone seriously trying to solicit funds for her “one woman” cause- www.savezambiasfuture,org. The videos are not professional at all… not that it would matter if the contents of the videos were well written and well thought out ideas, but they aren’t. It’s like someone just woke up and decided “today seems like a good day to start an organization”, and then set out with a camera to talk about what she was planning. She walks alone from Queens to City Hall for fundraising (I commend her for this) and she complains about not having a media audience and that people wouldn’t speak to her. Now first off…the bad videos are long with a lot of pointless information—train noise, people talking, darkness. She talks about how Zambia will be extinct in a few years because everybody will die of AIDS. Most times I would have preferred that she spoke in Bemba because it was quite hard to understand what she was trying to say in English—not that my accent is the best in the world because there’s no such thing There is no explanation as to where they got the house, who will stay and work there, where they found the orphans that they picked, what her connection is with the home based care nurses that are shown in the video, what the connection is between the catholic church guy that she interviews, why she insist they will get a washing machine (majority of the homes in Zambia- especially where the orphans are coming from have no washing machines—your hands do the work), she talks of a dinning table, repeats herself endlessly on the same point, kept stressing poverty causes HIV spread especially in young women with no explanation as to how and why. I personally wouldn’t donate to that foundation because of the underlying lack of seriousness and the fact that she hasn’t really done her home work.

Now before you all start writing me stinkers let me just ask—when is enough enough? There are countless number of organizations started by Zambians for the same cause that she claims she is doing ALONE—my personal favorites are the Kabwata orphanage --because they cared for 3 children that I know, Zambia Orphans of AIDS (here in the USA) www. Zambiaorphans.org (please visit them and donate if you can) and many more.

As donors isn’t it easier to donate when you can see where your money is going? And as beggars shouldn’t we band together to raise money for common causes? Why should all Zambians have their own private organizations for orphanages when the country itself isn’t all that big? Why can’t madam P. Nsamwa Lungu join Z.O.A or other recognizable organizations and do their marathons, or other fundraising activities? heck- she can even work with Kasisi orphanage! Simple truth is that she wont get as much air time—but if you are doing it for God, do you really need air time?
The adage ‘United we stand- divided we fall’ fits perfectly in this situation. …lol you wont belive what song just popped into my head ‘ze more we are togeza… ze happier we’ll be’
Please take note, that I found something on Liberia where the minister was explaining that there are many orphanages in his country that are fake, and this could soon become a tragedy for Zambia… not that I’m implying that save Zambia is not a real org.

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