There are a lot of different kinds of NGO’s in Cambodia, a lot more than I was expecting actually. And I’m not saying that what they’re doing isn’t amazing, but at the same time, how can we know the truth about what really happens? How do we know what they do with the money they receive or whether they are really doing what they say they are doing? This could apply to any organisation really, not only in Cambodia, but I was thinking about it lately. It’s part of human nature to assume the best in people and we will always want to believe that there ARE non-profit organizations helping others from the good of their heart. But how do we know for sure? Did you just donate $50 to what you think will go to education for homeless children, but will really go to buying a nice computer… how are we supposed to know?
What triggered all of these thoughts was when today, at the Riverkids Foundation, the founder was telling us about financials and how tight it is funding wise for the organisation and was emphasising that the program is non-profit and that even he, himself, didn’t make an income because he worked as a volunteer and so on. Just as he was saying these words, what sounds like the standard iPhone ringtone goes off. Believing what he just said was the truth, I assumed the best, and thought, ‘hey he got the Apple ringtone to work on his phone, that’s cool’. I didn’t even want to consider or imagine that it was what it seemed to be, until he pulled the brand new white iPhone out of his pocket, muted it and shoved it back in. Now, I’m not saying that the foundation is lying or that the work they say they do is invalid, it just got me thinking about these things, and I found it all very ironic.
So, maybe there are benefits to being skeptical, maybe it can stop you from throwing money at illegitimate projects. Or maybe, on the contrary, it just leads to unnecessary paranoia. Who knows? Just those 5 seconds, that one simple action got me to doubting the validity of the organization and I found that interesting.
LM
What triggered all of these thoughts was when today, at the Riverkids Foundation, the founder was telling us about financials and how tight it is funding wise for the organisation and was emphasising that the program is non-profit and that even he, himself, didn’t make an income because he worked as a volunteer and so on. Just as he was saying these words, what sounds like the standard iPhone ringtone goes off. Believing what he just said was the truth, I assumed the best, and thought, ‘hey he got the Apple ringtone to work on his phone, that’s cool’. I didn’t even want to consider or imagine that it was what it seemed to be, until he pulled the brand new white iPhone out of his pocket, muted it and shoved it back in. Now, I’m not saying that the foundation is lying or that the work they say they do is invalid, it just got me thinking about these things, and I found it all very ironic.
So, maybe there are benefits to being skeptical, maybe it can stop you from throwing money at illegitimate projects. Or maybe, on the contrary, it just leads to unnecessary paranoia. Who knows? Just those 5 seconds, that one simple action got me to doubting the validity of the organization and I found that interesting.
LM
