We gave $18 (18 equals “chai,” meaning “life”� a traditional low-tier amount to give) to a of couple of Jewish organizations last year, so apparently we’ve been placed on every Jewsy philanthropy list ever created. We receive so many sad-looking pamphlets asking us to give a few bucks that it’s overwhelming, especially since our bank account indicates that we barely have enough to buy milk and eggs for ourselves, let alone someone else. We took one look at the American Jewish World Service newsletter and thought “Oh, G*d, not another photo of a starving African kid!” and then immediately felt ashamed of our over-privileged, kvetch-laden selves. So we settled down to actually read about the good works the AJWS does in Uganda and Zimbabwe, where they don’t just throw money at the problems of poisoned water and not enough food but are actually teaching citizens to develop a sustainable agriculture and economy. While most of us have moved on from big, bad wave that swept hundreds of thousands to their deaths, AJWS is still in Sri Lanka and Thailand providing daily relief for the tsunami victims. And of course, there’s the ongoing violence and genocide in Sudan, which we can barely wrap our celebrity-and-Twinkie-filled minds around.
When we read AJWS President Ruth Messinger’s inspiring call for support, we shed a few tears for our own personal apathy:
“Extreme poverty. Extreme conflict. These global challenges sound overwhelming. But we cannot�we must not�retreat to the convenience of being overwhelmed.”
So be it if it means we must suffer (as if we really know what suffering is) more mail with sad faces� we’re splitting the grocery budget with AJWS this month.
Maybe one day we’ll actually get off our tuches and away from the screen to go to one of these horrific places and dig a well, teach people how to prevent AIDS or stand guard at a children’s shelter. For now we can only admire and feel deep gratitude for those who are already doing these things.