A sinking Ark...

It isn't making much noise in English-speaking media, but if you have at least some working knowledge of French, by all means, check the French media and keep an eye on the Arche de Zoé (a word play on Arche de Noé, Noah's Ark).

If you are/have been an aid worker (I wish so, but I didn't have the health to do so), or have been supporting non-governmental organizations (donating time in my younger years, now just financially, due to... lack of time), this story will make you sick.

What is scary, as the story unfolds, it seems that anyone can start up a bogus organization and get plenty of credentials...

... and as always, the victims are... the very victims they were supposedly helping. Children. In this case, 110 children.

Ootch.

And the fallout... all NGOs will get the blame...

For one bogus organization, there are others... If you can't trust an NGO that they are who they are... many doors will get closed on them. Or at least, doors will get much harder to open... (as if it was easy, to begin with)

Of course, add on top of that a French president who is as savvy as a George Bush on steroids (and no wonder why Sarkozy seems to get along with Bush), and a country like Chad who isn't all that happy to see France barging in with its big feet and a president who is utterly rude...

How to thoroughly mess up an already messed up situation... leave it to the politicians. It's difficult to do worse. :)

It isn't much different than other bad guys like those that dare to flood the mailbox of my parents everyday. Flooding is the word here. (Sometimes I want to scream...). People who pretend to do good... while in fact they are doing considrable harm. Of course, $$$ is what motivate them... it's always the case, of course...

But it hits hard, because... it hits your ideals. The very fundamental beliefs that motivate you. A dream of a better world, the unconditional urge to help a fellow human, and so on and on...

Also... it seems that I remember seeing somehwere that "All humans are born free and equal in dignity and in rights". Oh yeah, human rights... I believe in that. :)

The good thing, there aren't many of those bad guys... and they are being caught, one after the other... that's the positive outfall of that big mess.

Somehow... it makes you pondering about the human nature... and how some people could be this... evil in their mind. Mhhhh...

Cheers!

-E