Will the poor in Estern Europe get as much help as those in Asia and Africa
By suspenseful
@suspenseful (40192)
Canada
December 15, 2009 2:04pm CST
Our Church gets periodicals from COAH http://www.coah.org/about/ that helps the poor in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. At this time of year these people are freezing, and the cost of food is 80 percent of their income. Yet their government does not help them and in fact, in Romania many poor families are not allowed to keep chickens or pigs because of the EU strict agricultural regulations.
I am sure that there are many organizations for those in Asia and Africa, and becaues of the so called global warming that does not exist, Obama and his cronies will probably direct monies from America taken by increased taxation over to those two continents. Yet those people in Eastern Europe who are poor will be left out in the cold, and except for the churches that send money and goods over to them, their death rate would have increased.
Of course, because not much help has been directed to the above, the cost is a bit higher. Yet had there been much more attention given to the plight of these poor as there is to those in Asia and Africa and of course Central and South America, sponsoring would not take as much as it does now.
So do you believe that helping the poor means just those poor in Asia or Africa or no. I can only help by giving offerings in my collection plate. And if I had much more money and no expenses apart from the local poor in our city and country, I would give to help the poor in Eastern Europe. My father was descended from the Germans who settled in Romania hundreds of years ago.
2 people like this
8 responses
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
16 Dec 09
My family were Germans and came from Eastern Europe and my mother's family came from the uK. And I had an aunt who hid from the Communists, and whose first husband had been drafted by the Germany army and she never heard from him. I think he was killed.
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
17 Dec 09
Well My grandmas and grandpas were all born in the states and so were my parents.
I met my 2nd husband in Colo and we lived in every state but Vermont in 35 years of travel. for his work.
We came here in 93 and we liked it real well came back several times for jobs then came back for good in 99
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31633)
• United States
17 Dec 09
Unfortunately, you don't see much publicity for the poor in Eastern Europe. I don't know whether that's because they don't have anyone interested in their cause or what, but charity seems to be focused on the poor developing countries--which do deserve help but that doesn't mean the rest of the world should be ignored.
I don't have much to give so I keep it here in my own country and give mostly to the Salvation Army and the veterans' organizations. I would love to help those people in Eastern Europe, though.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
18 Dec 09
I really do not think that they care that much. The poor in the developing counties are more appealing. It seems that there is not much interest when that poor person has the same eyes and hair color and skin color then you do. People assume that if they look someone like your ethnic group, it is their fault. (I do wonder if the African Americans when seeing the faces of the poor in AFrica in those villages whether they figured "hey they could have butchered some of the cattle and started a shoe or a leather shop" but I do not know. ) I concentrate on the poor here as I do not have that much to give. But I do know that it also goes to the poor over there as well. I really wish I could donate a certain amount each month, but right now I cannot.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163772)
• Garden Grove, California
16 Dec 09
suspensful It is dreadful what is happening to people in the colder climes for sure and I think we must help but something
tells me first we should look right here in this country. I do not know where you are from but here in Ca in the U SA we have thousands of people out of work, which means a lot of families are actually homeless. surely we should address these issues first then send money to Russia or whatever. The US is in a depression even if they want to whitewash it into recession. My own son has been unable to get a job and its been 11 months. somethings should be done in our various stats greato alleviate hunger and joblessness first then relief to other countries. and why must the US be the only one to always help out, why not all the other countries? my parents always taught me charity begins at home then goes to other places.great discussion by the way.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
16 Dec 09
I live in Canada and we do have help available. The trouble is that no one has any problem with sacrificing in order to donate their money to Africa or Asia, but it seems that sending money to Russia or Eastern Europe has to be done after all the poor here in North America are feed, are no longer homeless, and are all employed at good paying wages. So what happens is that the people look on their black and white television set, or listen to the radio (I am assuming people who are under employed or unemployed) and see the pictures of the poor starving people in Africa and say that they will sacrifice more and give and they are also volunteering and helping out those around them. I mean I am in a better financial situation but my husband has als and a lot of our money goes for medical needs and I put money in my collection plate that goes for the needy at home and abroad and of course, we look after the poor in our congregation first.
The trouble is that with the Copenhagen accord, is that rather then you and I deciding who to help, Obama and his cronies have decided that US has to help the poor in Asia and AFrica or of the third world. That means that some of the money that you need to help your son will be taken away from you.
And those that have lots of money and are not you and me will think that the poor in Asia and Africa need more help, the poor in America are there through their own fault, and there are no poor in Eastern Europe and will direct their help that way.a
@bluehibiscus (702)
• United States
16 Dec 09
Face it no one cares that people in my homeland are starving too. It's trendier to care about Africa and Asia. In a way I believe it is white guilt, the western Europeans and united states caused so much harm tot he people in those areas, and contributed to ruining a lot of their economies they feel obliged where as my lovely (though pale) ancestors went nowhere and did nothing. (seriously I'm pretty sure we're not known for anything)
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
16 Dec 09
That is the whole trouble. I am sure that the people in Africa had cruel rulers who stole all their daughters for their harem and sold the brothers and fathers who objected to the Arabian traders who sold them to the slave traders who brought them to America, but no one hears about it. As for white guilt. I do not have any. None of our family was ever in Africa or Asia. My forefathers were busy running a farm in Romania, and the maternal part of my family had probably lived in England since who knows when and I doubt that my sea faring uncle had even been to Africa. Now if our families were descending from slave traders that would be different, but they were not.
@hvedra (1619)
•
16 Dec 09
Hi Suspenseful
What a lot of people fail to realise is that the Third World isn't a place but a state of existence. Any person in any country can be living in Third World conditions and, conversely, some people in very poor countries live lifestyles that wouldn't be out of place in Beverly Hills or Kensington. One thing aid charities sometimes struggle with is explaining how much they spend on "administration" - this is often a euphamism for "hiring people to make sure the food and aid gets to the poor and isn't syphoned away by corrupt officials or criminal gangs (the two are not mutually exclusive)".
Bits of the old communist organisation worked. A good friend of mine is Romanian and goes back occasionally and a lot of the problem is that communism was dismantled and nothing sensible was put in its place. A lot of people in the towns live in blocks of apartments which have shared heating and power supplies. If someone decides not to pay their bills the entire block is cut off and everyone suffers.
The chicken regulation thing is probably either Romanian regulations OR because they have had outbreaks of bird flu. Actual EU regs allow for most people to keep chickens as long as they are kept in reasonable conditions etc. It's easy to blame the EU but I wonder if local profiteering/corruption has more to do with it. Not that this helps the poor either way, it's just nice to know who is really to blame and why.
Who and what gets helped can often depend on PR. Don't forget that some aid agencies have been working in Asia and Africa a long time whereas what is going on in Eastern Europe is a relatively recent phenomena and predominantly a "created" crisis (i.e. it is not a natural disaster but bad management). People can sometimes be a bit simple and not realise that a lot of other poverty is created by greedy powerful people and that natural disasters are not responsible for most of it. Perhaps they don't want to poke into those corners too much - human psyche and all that.
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
16 Dec 09
That is probably what has happened, that the government is corrupt and think that their poor do not exist. Yet why should the poor in Eastern Europe be less deserving of help then those in the other countries? I have seen pictures of Romania and it has always had its poor farmers who live in shabby conditions and certainly I would not want to get chickens from farmers like that, but it is the only way they can feed their families.
The government as well as the organizations that help should try to help these people in the way that Care does, by giving them the tools to improve, but how can anyone help when the poor there are unknown?
1 person likes this
@puppynut (370)
• New Zealand
16 Dec 09
Churches and voluntary organisations and other religious and community groups do great action by supporting starving countries and raising awareness about their plights. It still pays to campaign the governments for help, but it is good to carry on supporting these legitimate organisations that are helping in these countries. I wish there were more documentaries about these organisations so people can see just how much good they are doing. Its great you left the website for COAH, a lot of people will go and look.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
16 Dec 09
Our church also helps an Indian Reservation in British Columbia, churches in Brazil, and now are helping in the Middle East as well as Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Our local church is in a working middle class area so we are not exactly a wealthy congregation and on top of that those that have children pay for tuition to the Christian school, but somehow God provides so we can all help. The government of the countries either cannot afford to help, or their culture is such that the rich have all and the poor have nothing and there is no middle class. I wish the governments in these countries would care more, but they either do not or cannot.
@gitfiddleplayer (10362)
• United States
15 Dec 09
Helping the poor should be an involuntary action, not a government force. The problem with helping the poor is that there are for more that need help than are willing to ask. We give through our church so its given and distributed to those who need it. I have never directly helped the poor, face to face, but my giving has helped those who need it. When a government starves its people and then asks for help its hard to see why other countries won't help.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
16 Dec 09
We are supposed to be helping the poor but when some poor are considered more deserving, not because they looked for work and could not find it or were too disabled or no one would look after their children if they left them alone as the Victorians thought, but now the deserving poor are considered those in the Third World and not in the First and Second World. True the government is not helping these people in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, but neither is the government not helping their people in Africa and Asia. Yet the poor in Africa and Asia are considered more deserving. Go figure.
Every season we receive the magazine from COAH, Come Over and Help, and the most I can do is to put extra money in the collection plate. Yet this is like that organization called Second Harvest that helps the poor in America. They are less well known that the other organizations who concentrate mainly on the poor in Asia and Africa. We are supposed to be non discriminatory in helping the poor. And just because the poor person has a shirt and slacks on, or a dress does not mean he or she is less poor. It is just that the winters are so cold they cannot get buy without at least something to keep them warm.
@kaylachan (84776)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
15 Dec 09
Everyone is poor, if they can't take care of themselves. Its everywhere and there is no way to really keep up. Population control is often talked about, but that wouldn't resolve anything. If I had two cents to rub togeather after the bills were paid, I'd probably be chertable. But, I'm not. If you think about it. It is tough knowing there are people worse off then we are, but those who can actually help and have the money and recources to do so don't. So that's where we rank in the grand sceame of things.
1 person likes this
