Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: TheMalandro on September 01, 2013, 08:41:59 AM
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http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/indian-team-plays-aston-villa-5822420
Is it unkind to say that perhaps their combined air fares would have been more useful to those kids? After all, the kits are more or less worthless.
If I was orphaned and living in total poverty, I think I'd be pretty annoyed if somebody thought giving me a sports shirt would makes things better.
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No. Because those with nothing appreciate something. It's only us in the consumerist world that differentiate between a good deed and whether we could have given or gotten more.
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http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/indian-team-plays-aston-villa-5822420
Is it unkind to say that perhaps their combined air fares would have been more useful to those kids? After all, the kits are more or less worthless.
If I was orphaned and living in total poverty, I think I'd be pretty annoyed if somebody thought giving me a sports shirt would makes things better.
You'd then be surprised if you saw for yourself and experienced just how much a gesture like this means to those involved.
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The Gambia (http://avfcgambiaproject.blogspot.co.uk/)
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There was someone else who went to Africa on here and the kids loved it. I was at a school in Lagos and gave a kid a Villa shirt despite his professed 'love' of Chelsea. His face couldn't stop beaming with the biggest most genuine smile you could have wanted to see. Would he wanted the the £50 or so? Maybe, but you give a child a gift and they're as genuinely excited and grateful as we are touched.
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There was someone else who went to Africa on here and the kids loved it. I was at a school in Lagos and gave a kid a Villa shirt despite his professed 'love' of Chelsea. His face couldn't stop beaming with the biggest most genuine smile you could have wanted to see. Would he wanted the the £50 or so? Maybe, but you give a child a gift and they're as genuinely excited and grateful as we are touched.
Was that the chap who went on a teaching programme, and got the kids to sing Villa songs? There was a great video of it, I recall. Anyone know where it is?
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That's the one. I think it was the, "We're by far the greatest team..." song.
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That's it. There was some fine African funk-soul on the video too, if I recall correctly.
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I'm not saying its not a good deed, but it doesn't seem a very good way to do it. How many shirts could they have sent with say £1000 without flying?
Perhaps I'm too old and cynical.
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I'm not saying its not a good deed, but it doesn't seem a very good way to do it. How many shirts could they have sent with say £1000 without flying?
Perhaps I'm too old and cynical.
I guess the thing is, until you see the poverty/determination/creativity/spirit of the people for yourself, you are unlikely to make the effort. Those blokes saw what was happening first hand and wanted to make a gesture. They wanted to experience the kids excitement for themselves...to make a connection.
I am very charitable and knit my own muesli, but I wouldn't send £1000 abroad to someone I had never met...would you?
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I'm not saying its not a good deed, but it doesn't seem a very good way to do it. How many shirts could they have sent with say £1000 without flying?
Perhaps I'm too old and cynical.
I guess the thing is, until you see the poverty/determination/creativity/spirit of the people for yourself, you are unlikely to make the effort. Those blokes saw what was happening first hand and wanted to make a gesture. They wanted to experience the kids excitement for themselves...to make a connection.
I am very charitable and knit my own muesli, but I wouldn't send £1000 abroad to someone I had never met...would you?
I guess not, although they must have had some idea that the kids in question needed clothing.
Having lived in South America for a number of years, I've probably seen poverty as bad, but a football shirt wouldn't have been my first choice of help.
I imagine I'm coming across as a bit of a tool questioning charity, so I'll stop here!
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http://timharford.com/2013/07/how-to-give-money-away/
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Malandro, I don't see you as a bit of a tool at all. It's just as others have posted more eloquently than me that, when you have nothing, and someone gives you something no matter what or how small or insignificant, it seems like everything in the world and is perceived as such. You, to your credit are viewing it in terms of finance and the utility of that finance, but sometimes we have to look beyond such things. I repeat, you are not a tool.
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Malandro, I don't see you as a bit of a tool at all. It's just as others have posted more eloquently than me that, when you have nothing, and someone gives you something no matter what or how small or insignificant, it seems like everything in the world and is perceived as such. You, to your credit are viewing it in terms of finance and the utility of that finance, but sometimes we have to look beyond such things. I repeat, you are not a tool.
sometimes a tool!
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I'm not saying its not a good deed, but it doesn't seem a very good way to do it. How many shirts could they have sent with say £1000 without flying?
Perhaps I'm too old and cynical.
I guess the thing is, until you see the poverty/determination/creativity/spirit of the people for yourself, you are unlikely to make the effort. Those blokes saw what was happening first hand and wanted to make a gesture. They wanted to experience the kids excitement for themselves...to make a connection.
I am very charitable and knit my own muesli, but I wouldn't send £1000 abroad to someone I had never met...would you?
I guess not, although they must have had some idea that the kids in question needed clothing.
Having lived in South America for a number of years, I've probably seen poverty as bad, but a football shirt wouldn't have been my first choice of help.
I imagine I'm coming across as a bit of a tool questioning charity, so I'll stop here!
I also think you are not a tool. If we were to apply Maslow's hierarchy of needs to those children, then a clean water supply, nutritious food, safe warm housing etc. would come way above a football shirt (regardless of the quality of the team). The money for the flights would indeed have been better spent on those things...but in the real world the gesture has brought happiness to the children and the people giving. It has also sparked us to talk about it and the children at the school in Acocks Green are now more aware of the inequalities in the world.
Just to be clear...Malandro is not a tool! :D
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It's not about giving money though is it? Who has £50 that they no longer want? (Only the government borrows to give away, right?) However, who has an out of date football shirt that they paid £50 for that they won't wear again? So take something that is not being used and isn't wanted, and put it somewhere where it will be used and appreciated rather than in the bin. I think the modern word is 'recycling' isn't it? And if it puts smiles on faces that weren't there before, the job's a good 'n'!