The Butterfield Bank Sea Swim raised some $600 for Cayman Loves Children. Eventually the money will make its way into one of planet Earth’s ultimate hell holes, one of those places where children die for lack of pennies.
Yes, it feels nice to send a few bucks to some hungry kid in Bangladesh or Zambia, but is it really worth the bother? Let’s be real; what can $600 do against something as large as global child poverty? What can $600 really do to stop 10 million children dying each year from malnourishment and preventable diseases? How can $600 get safe drinking water into the hands of the 400 million children who currently drink mud? It all seems hopeless, like a waste of time and money.
From the perspective of two or three of those children on the edge, however, that $600 might not be so insignificant. Some life-saving medicines, for example, are as cheap as $2 per dose. That means the Saturday’s sea swim potentially could save 300 children from severe illness or death. A teacher’s salary is less than $25 per month in some places. That means the sea swim potentially earned enough money to pay a teacher’s salary for two years. How many children’s lives might that impact? Suddenly $600 sounds like a very meaningful donation.
I encourage all the leaders of Cayman sports to give some thought to what their associations, clubs and teams can do for the world’s most needy children. Some already do good works. Some do nothing. We can all do more.
Don’t give money in the hope of saving the world, however, because you won’t. Just do it to save that one child out there somewhere; you know, the one who has no one coming to her rescue–except you.
Opinion by Guy P. Harrison
(originally published in the Caymanian Compass; 24 May 2006)
