Donkeys

Much has been written in the Nepali press in recent weeks about how NGOs and INGOs may soon to be brought into line by the Government, with greater transparency and contribution towards the "national agenda". No one can challenge the desirability of NGOs showing clearly their sources of income and expenditure; many if not most don't measure up in this regard. I know of one or two NGOs out there who source their funds by withdrawing cash directly from their overseas' donor accounts through an ATM card that they've been given by their funder. That can scarcely be considered to be best practice. I do have problems though with any suggestion that NGO funds, non-governmental funds, might be harnessed towards the greater good as determined by a local governmental agency that might take precedence in decision-making over donor charity Boards and NGO committees. These suggestions - which seem to be strongest in "letters to the editor" sections of the papers - reflect an ignorance of the nature of public giving abroad and that any attempt to hijack funds that are given for a specific purpose, entrusted to Trustees, would undermine the ethos of charitable giving. It is the individual member of the public's right to give their own hard-earned cash towards whatever cause that is dear to their hearts, be it children, animals, the arts, medical research etc. If a donor country doesn't want to receive funds towards what might be seen as fringe issues then all that has by national government is to decline the charity's proposal. The funds can go to another country where the perceived need is as great or greater and where the contribution is welcome even if it doesn't go towards meeting development priorities.

Also, one of the tasks of a charity can be to identify and highlight something that isn't already on "the national agenda" but that most definitely should be. For example, six years ago when The Esther Benjamins Trust began working with the problem of trafficking of children to circuses no one knew anything about this particular problem. Had our modest resources been channelled into paying for other worthy things like providing rehabilitation and training facilities for trafficking survivors (this is high on the national agenda) then Nepali children would still be languishing, abused in the circuses. Instead we were able to get on with the challenge of sorting the problem out and now that child trafficking route is closed down.

Other causes like animal welfare seem to be of only academic interest to many of the decision makers within Nepalese society. Thank goodness for those few good people out there, Westerners and Nepalis, who have made stray dogs and working donkeys issues that need addressing and thank goodness for those overseas who give money that supports the animals' relief. I hope nothing is done in the future that will restrict the activities of such people who may be seen as "eccentric". It is such people that are the bedrock of charities.

Pictured right is a donkey that was rescued from a brick kiln last week by my friend Kit Spencer, Managing Director of the Summit Hotel.

The working donkeys of Kathmandu

I met my friend and portrait artist Jan Salter at an art exhibition the other evening. She is the founder of Kathmandu Animal Treatment Centre (http://www.katcentre.org.np/) which is now a registered charity in the UK. Over a glass of red she told me that she was now looking into the circumstances of working donkeys in Kathmandu, as if she hadn't enough on her plate with the city's stray dog population to sort out.

On the way back from my Godawari arts centre this lunchtime I passed a donkey grazing by the roadside, clearly with an open sore on its bank. On returning home I opened this e mail and adjacent pictures from another animal welfare activitist:

"I took these pics at a brick factory site in Siddhipur. The donkeys carry unfired bricks from the place where bricks are made from mud to the factory and back. According to the staff (many of whom are children) the boss hardly cares for the donkeys. So many have died already. One donkey's ears were cut off when it was young, no idea why. Half of the donkeys have open sores which go untreated."

I am now looking at how I might extend my children's charity work beyond the immediate facilities we operate and out into the community that straddles the Godawari road that runs southeast out of Kathmandu. Whilst our expenditure of course will continue to have to go on children and young people, sights and messages like this make me think of what we might do for young people that can offer some parallel advantages to domestic animals and wildlife. And one day soon I am going to have a look at the brick kilns and their child labour for myself.

Sometimes it feels like one is living in a kind of mediaeval hell hole over here and no one seems to care that much.