Today was a Very Full Day

And it’s only 1pm.

This morning at 8:30, I met Karu Gamage from Overseas School of Columbo to view a couple of organizations that OSC was involved with on a volunteer basis. Brother and Sister Bennion from church were also going to see what kind of need there is.

See, Brother and Sister Bennion are on a welfare mission where they work under the church’s charitable organization, and after assessing the needs, they send reports to their superiors to get goods or training or whatever is needed to the people who have the need.

I think I’m saying it badly. Let me see if I can explain.

The church is not interested in handing over funds to either governments, political parties, or to support the administration of charitable organizations. They are, however, interested in providing goods that will go directly to the person in need, or will otherwise directly benefit the person in need.

For example, they will provide school desks and chairs, books of all sorts, personal hygiene kits, school kits, blankets, clothing, wheelchairs, crutches, toys, things like that. They will even provide computers for students to use, but not computers to be used for administration of the organization.

I gather that they want to avoid corruption and misuse of funds. Fair enough.

Back in Kelowna, in church, there was a drive on for quite a period of time for school kits consisting of small chalkboards, chalk, paper, pens, pencils, scissors, things like that. Sri Lanka is one of the countries that these school kits were assembled for.

And here’s a comment. Folks, those of you who live in prosperous countries like Canada and the US, when you’re asked to donate some of these items, please do it without complaint. I know we bellyache about how we’re broke, but really, if you give up coffee or soda for one week out of the month, even that amount of money can make a difference in a country like this one.

This was an eye opening day for me. While I knew that there is a lot of poverty and unmet needs here, it’s a whole other thing to stare it in the face.

I went to OSC and met Karu at 8:30. We were taking a school van complete with a driver. Karu had an envelope that had to go to the American Embassy first, and since there were no other drivers available, he elected to take it. Well, it was on the way, so no problem. Then we picked up the Bennions at their apartment building. They live in a condo close to the church, and they tell me it’s rather nice. It’s a 2 bedroom plus a den complete with air conditioning, which they leave on all the time, apparently – even when they’re not home. I asked, because I’m nosy, and their electric bill is something like $150 a month. Ack!

Author: LMAshton
Howdy! I'm a beginner artist, hobbyist photographer, kitchen witch, wanderer by nature, and hermit introvert. This is my blog feed. You can find my fediverse posts at https://a.farook.org/Laurie.

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