Friday, December 16, 2005
What Do You Make Of This?
From the London Telegraph:
A former British Airways stewardess who is pioneering free health care for Palestinian donkeys received an early Christmas present yesterday when a charity promised £281,000 in support.Initial reaction: that's a half-million dollars that could have been put to a lot better use. Later in the story:
"This is not a touchy-feely exercise, but a project based on common sense," she said. "If the farmer looks after his donkey well, it will work a lot longer and be of greater value in the long run. Some of the animals are in a bad way, with awful saddle sore and cuts from where the harness rubs away at the skin. But with a bit of education and care we are already seeing results."Now that makes some sense -- it's right out of the "give a fish, give a meal, teach how to fish, fed for life" school which, in the end, I think is a great way to go. But the end of the piece featured a quote from the funding agency and sort of spoiled it again
Bill Swann, the international director of the Brooke, praised Miss Fensom's vision. He said: "Lucy has recognised what is clearly a significant animal welfare need among animals belonging to poor communities and we hope that with our help her good start can be built on for even greater results."See, it's not an "animal welfare" issue, it's a people welfare issue in which the animals play a key role. In the end it sounds like the woman doing the work has her head and heart in the right place, even if those funding her don't. Fine for now, but isn't that often the way things get bollaxed up? - He who controls the money controls the agenda?
