I had a simple idea to do a print auction of my photography to start a fund for Nu. The approach was simple, sell my photography and give all the proceeds to a fund dedicated to a better life for Nu. We raised a lot of money and the support and feedback we received was simply amazing.
As I sipped my potent coffee hoping to feel the rewards of a caffeine injection I answered the relatively light questions about my background and how I started my story about Nu. The reporter brought a friend with her who she introduced as a famous Vietnamese artist who does charitable work for children with cancer. At first I thought, cool I’d love to have a dialog with him about his experience and perhaps I could learn a thing or two. Instead as I answered my questions from the reporter I could see his skepticism stewing as he sipped his Heineken ripping through cigarettes.
He finally chimed in questioning the purpose of raising money for a child who can't understand what we are doing for her. I’ll get to how ridiculous I feel that question is later but I’ve heard it a few times. He proceeded to size up my charity resume by flaunting how much money he has raised and the value of the medical equipment they have purchased. I was happy for him and what he had accomplished but I started to get a little annoyed at this need to question something so positive. If this was just a one time thing I wouldn’t take the time to write this blog but it’s happened to me a few times so I wanted to address it.
Questions like why just her, why not help all the children? Valid question but the answer to me was simple. I’ve spent a lot of time at the Friendship Village and a lot of time watching Nu. I see the other children have each other. They have friendships, love and nurturing. For Nu, she has no one. My plan is to use the money to not only get her back into the Friendship Village but also to hire a person who is qualified to take care of her on a one on one basis. Someone who can give her a consistent touch in her life. For any human being have a human touch is vital. Now imagine if you couldn’t see, hear or communicate how vital that touch would be to you.
I can’t claim to be an expert on fundraising but I can say I have spent plenty of hours watching Nu’s life in isolation. I know there are loads of causes and people who need money and help but I know and understand Nu’s story so that is where I've decided to dedicate my focus. Asking me the purpose of “raising money for a child who can't understand what we are doing for her” has a simple answer. First off, the idea is to create a better life for Nu, not for her to recognize that I did so. Second, while of course I can see the benefits of medical supplies and things like that I am not qualified in this field and that isn't the solution for Nu. I am however qualified to see the necessity of providing Nu an escape from this:
and to provide her with more of this:
I don't mean to come off as angry and as a journalist I can understand questioning things. I just wanted to address these frequent questions that seem to stem from competitiveness and negative energy on a subject that shouldn’t be free of such things.
In a world that has such an oscillating variety of challenges and circumstances, people facilitating positive change will inevitably take many different shapes, sizes, and motives. I can honestly appreciate the motive behind someone who is trying to stretch limited resources to help the most people. That said, I'd challenge that same person to reconsider such scarcity as an opportunity to employ creative inspiration in a way that doesn't limit itself to helping only the obvious masses.
ReplyDeleteI will never take widely popularized illness/hardships for granted, but will equally acknowledge the countless situations like Nu's who would otherwise slip through the cracks and be deemed too insignificant to garner outside support.
One can always optimize a situation, however I find it difficult to justify spending so much energy deconstructing an act that first and foremost, improves the life of a human being. With all the bs going down in the world today, is it really necessary to pick apart other people's positive contributions with grossly superficial assessments, originating from a perspective that ironically omits the human component of humanity work. If this guy was really committed to simply helping people, why is he stuck in such a narrow interpretation of how said help can manifest?
Can certain parts of the world stand a tremendous gain from medical supplies?...Absolutely. Can certain parts of the world stand to gain from unique forms of an inherently different aid?...Absolutely.
Making distinctions can be useful, and being able to discern those distinctions is also useful. That said, partiality applied without acknowledging the root of one's intention is nothing more than ignorance.
Clearly I wasn't irked by this story in the least ;-)
Be proud of what you have accomplished. In our community, very few care to do something for their subjects. Most are doing it to improve their portfolio, get awards and grants and for the recognition of their concern.
ReplyDeleteIn most cases, many never look back to check out what happened after they have left. I have always said, our stories is not about us but it is about them. Best regards.
Brother ... stay away from the interviews here. It will just be for your benefit.
ReplyDeleteWell said Bryan. Damn, you should've done the interview :).
ReplyDeleteThanks Rick, I wish I could say I did events like that more often it was an amazing experience.
ReplyDeleteHi Justin, a a Vietnamese I highly appreciate what you've done for Nu! Stay away from interviews and also from show-off guys who wanna let the whole world know about their good deeds.
ReplyDelete(tell you, I met you years ago when you and Hai Thanh took wedding photos for my friend in Son Tra peninsula, now I'm in New York, a student)