Throughout the world there are numerous charitable institutions – World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Save the Children, to name but two but there are countless more. Closer to home, here in Cyprus, the accent is on similar themes including the welfare of animals and the needs of the expatriates more comfortable journey to the afterlife.
I am, however, concerned that too many of these charity and welfare organisations have left the prime objective behind and seek only to become a further source of income and/or prestige to their workers and organisers. For example: one of the larger animal welfare set-ups has a very large staff of paid workers that are either expatriates or student émigrés who would not dream of working without remuneration or assistance and their “employers” add to this by saying they could not possibly carry out their work without them. As a result of this the “volunteers” have to be paid first before the donated or collected monies get to the animals. On the other-side of the fence are the people raising funds for organisations like the Hospice who, from my ear to the ground, whilst not paid seem to be fighting for position and recognition, backbiting and throwing out good souls who have given loyal service for quite a few years because they no longer ‘fit in’! I am only too familiar with the ‘closed-shop’ that exists in these organisations having experienced it during the first 10 years of my retirement in Paphos, however, it does seem to be a contradiction when initially charitable folk need to bolster their own egos and needs, seeking remuneration and position before the prime requirements of the group they are assisting.
Perhaps this is another problem of the ‘recession’ and the continual requirement of people to line their pockets instead of giving something back to those who are less fortunate – I wish I knew the answer but I guess it just “the way we are”.