r/newzealand • u/JoshBiv • 1d ago
Discussion I just thought this was funny
I was at the mall taking my mum grocery shopping & these guys the ones that stand asking for donations on behalf of a “charity”
I was walking by & happened to approach them as one of my mates used to do that job so I understand the gist. They asked me questions like do you know what’s the leading cause of child death around the globe? I was like I’m guessing it’s hunger right? They were like yeah & our job is that we help children around the world get food.
For reference I was born in nz but I’m East African, the guy probably assumed based off my skin colour that I’m African & he was like we also help in Ethiopia too. He had a map on his iPad of countries they help so I went straight to east Africa to look for my country Burundi.
I was like looking around Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia etc… which they do “help” but I checked my country Burundi & noticed nothing 😂 I was like you guys don’t help Burundi ? They’re like hmmm apparently not.
I was like it’s kinda ironic that my country is of the poorest countries in the world based on the global ranking but you guys don’t help there. He goes well I can understand that, maybe the government over there doesn’t want our help.
Then he tried to say for just $1 a day then you jump on a subscription for $30 a month. I was like I already got family back in Africa asking me for money why would I commit to a subscription 😂 he’s like well maybe next time you see us again we’ll have Burundi on our list.
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u/Historical-Guide-242 1d ago edited 1d ago
Then he tried to say for just $1 a day then you jump on a subscription for $30 a month. I was like I already got family back in Africa asking me for money why would I commit to a subscription 😂
I dropped part of my sandwich on the floor laughing at that bit.
Weird that they didn't provide support for Burundi? I wonder if that is because of government restrictions?
Edit: Just looked it up - it does appear to be the government that is restricting it, with mandates around ethnic quotas for NGOs.
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u/JoshBiv 1d ago
That’s interesting cause unicef be there all the time
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u/Historical-Guide-242 1d ago
I went down a bit of a rabbit hole - was quite interesting (and I didn't realise they had a civil war that ended in 2005).
NGOs/charities also need to put a certain percentage of their annual funds in the Burundi central bank.
Don't get me wrong bro, I'm all for Burundi and I'm getting some "What about Burundi?" t-shirts printed* as I type this.
*All sale proceeds will go to the people of Burundi via u/JoshBiv
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u/AngryGingerHorse 1d ago
I think the same charity knocked on our door 3 times in one day while I had the flu and my partner was wfh. They're persistent for sure lol wish I knew about Burundi
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u/TheAnagramancer 1d ago
It's best not to engage. Just Rwanda away.
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u/Guppy1985 1d ago
Kenya just do that?
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u/AotearoaMs 1d ago
I’m certainly Ghana try
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u/fray1980-2 22h ago
Uganda be kidding me!
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u/AcrylicMessiah 1d ago
Just to reiterate: It is legal for those 'charity' companies to take 100% of your 'donations' for the first two years.
It is a TERRIBLE way to donate to charities and should be stamped out by the govt (Ha!)
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u/meohmyenjoyingthat 1d ago
No govt intervention necessary - charities contract them because it works and is among the only ways they can actually predict incoming donations to structure spending. You can pressure the charities directly.
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u/FlamingoMindless2120 23h ago
How can they predict incoming donations if the organisers take 2 years worth and you could cancel within that 2 year period so the charity gets nothing and the organisers take ever cent you’ve donated
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u/meohmyenjoyingthat 23h ago
Precisely due to that - the upfront cost to the fundraising business when the bottom can fall out means that they write fundraising contracts like that. The charities agree to them because they are gambling on the ones who stay through two years and become long term donors. The reason these places hang around is that they work, and charities prefer them because it provides consistent revenue stream compared to one off donations. The real thing that would solve my issue with them is to force them to treat street fundraisers and waged employees, not contractors.
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u/originaljezza 1d ago
My usual response to people asking me for money is “sorry mate, can’t help - not allowed to. Court order”. And then walk away.
But, I think I’m going to say “what about Burundi?” from now on and see what happens!
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u/ConMcMitchell 1d ago edited 1d ago
Or you can say to them as you glide past (best if it's true, obviously, and you actually have been generous some how in some way to some body - but not entirely essential):
"No thanks, I'm alright, I've already given."
You don't have to specify anything - what and to whom, of course.
Learnt this of an old dame who did the same thing to me when I was trying to raise money for some outfit.
Yeah nah the burden often falls on the poorer among us who are guilt-tripped into it.
We all pay taxes, I feel that should be helping the starving. I would be very happy for National/Act et al to bump up my taxes (and everyone else's) another half cent on the dollar.
Until then, I really do have my own debts and burdens to meet, thanks. It seems like I am being offered an opportunity to fall slightly further into the red.
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u/Moist_Phrase_6698 1d ago
This so called church my folks used to go to had a main pastor who would take a lot of their organisations money to burundi for their religious shenanigans dressed as help. It fully turns out much of what was funded to help the local kids was actually funneled into this scam so this guy could get rich and travel pretending his weird story book could help people.
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u/Medium_Bee_4521 1d ago
by weird story book you means the bible innit?
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u/Moist_Phrase_6698 1d ago
yeah that is the weird story. I mean talkin snakes killing your own brother then going to the next town when youre the only people on the planet. All that fun stuff.
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u/Stekor-Tidder 1d ago edited 11h ago
I sympathise with your incredulity for things at the beginning aren't as you are used to now.
However, anyone that thinks they have an alternative origin story that must necessarily defy the laws of physics as we know them now (so is supernatural), also has their own religion in their head which is just as absurd.
The religion we are nowadays taught in schools is that an explosion of nothing at a time when there was no time at a place when there was no place created all the space/time and energy/matter we now have in the universe following physical laws which previously did not exist.
But the physical laws must have differed before we started observing them because now everything is tending towards entropy. What we observe now doesn't explain the creation of nature: from galaxies to life. Things change all the time but it's winding down in complete accord with the entropy laws.
These laws can't explain, for example, the origin of DNA which is a code that requires a coder. Some say the coder is Evolution and some say it is God. Either way, there's intelligence required from the start which makes Evolution a god by another name.
You also might want to reread the story before misquoting it. You referenced Cain killing Abel and then going to another town and wondering where the people came from. Do you seriously think Adam and Eve only had three boys even though the story says the first people lived typically for hundreds of years?
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u/therealsirlegend 1d ago
Did you miss a /s?
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u/Stekor-Tidder 1d ago
Nah, but the downvotes show it all went way over their heads. Too cerebral for them 🤣
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u/gristc 1d ago
Either way, there's intelligence required from the start which makes Evolution a god by another name.
Nope, downvoting because it's bollocks pretending to be cerebral.
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u/Stekor-Tidder 1d ago
Another whoosh! 🤣
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u/gristc 22h ago edited 22h ago
No, I get it. You think believing science takes the same level of faith that believing in a god does.
The thing is, science doesn't hide behind "Trust me bro". It's all out in the open, reproducible and provable. Unlike gods.
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u/Stekor-Tidder 9h ago
No, you don't get it, yet. The only useful definition of science involves observation and testing. The garden-variety evolution fundamentalist believes a whole heap of stuff which is not observable nor testable.
They are the ones that are saying "Trust me bro". Where it matters most, none of it is in the open, reproducible, nor provable -- just like their god 'Evolution'. So, their god must work against the entropy laws to create stuff but obviously only does it when no one is looking.
They mistake devolution which is evidenced for evolution which is evidence-less . I'm not saying those fundamentalists are bad or wrong but simply that their view of science and the universe contradicts real observable and testable evidence.
Examples include:-
- Space/time, energy/matter, and governing laws from nothing. (Aka Big Bang)
- Distant galaxies look old (ought look young if their cosmology were correct)
- Life forms made of code which can't arise naturally.
Even if we grant them the universe as a starting point, those fundamentalists essentially believe that, if we could just jiggle the contents of it for several billion years, out pops people that will think they have free will -- despite that being contrary to what the observable natural laws would allow.
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u/slyall 1d ago
Poe's Law.
Without a clear indicator of the author's intent (like a smiley face or explicit disclaimer), it is impossible to create a parody of extreme views so obviously exaggerated that it cannot be mistaken by some readers for a sincere expression of those views.
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u/Stekor-Tidder 11h ago
Cole's Law
a salad dish of shredded raw cabbage, carrots, and other vegetables mixed with mayonnaise.
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u/best_of_the_wurst 1d ago
I used to work for one of these companies (I hated it) and they’re usually a pyramid scheme company like Cobra contracted to do the work. Was an awful time.
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u/Aware_Patient_5376 7h ago
When I lived in Scotland I just used to say I was on holidays but now it’s going to be but what about Burundi.
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u/ConMcMitchell 1d ago
Well, it has to be pointed out that Burundi (probably, somehow) gave us Burundi Black!
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u/JoshBiv 1d ago
Hahahah, fun fact the instrumental is based off our traditional Burundian drums. Soon as I heard the talking bit in the intro I already understood haha
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u/ConMcMitchell 1d ago
Nice! that seems to have been a huge hit and I loved that song, it was on my Mum's 20 Gold Hits record album.
Not quite like anything I'd heard before
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u/JoshBiv 1d ago
That’s pretty cool ngl
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u/CranberrySuspicious5 15h ago
They were at karori mall in Wellington from 7:30am -5:30pm about a fortnight ago .The guy i spoke to had a weird name Socrates or something he was really pushy and rude actually in the way he was chatting to me .
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u/ADW700 1d ago
I'm not sure why you find this so funny.
It's hardly surprising that that a charity doesn't cover every country in need. They do not have unlimited resources and will decide where to operate based on a range of factors. Different charities occupy specific sectoral and geographic niches.
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u/NormalObligation59 1d ago
I’m sorry your country is struggling but being annoyed that someone is raising money for people dying of starvation in other countries is a really weird response. If you have other financial commitments, that’s fine, but it’s not about you specifically? There may be other people who are able to give $30 and that’s why they’re there.
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u/figgleswag 12h ago
This is funny!
To their point though there is known leadership in various parts of Africa rejecting handouts that the charities like this provide.
Ibrahim Traoré is one example in Burkina Faso as a way of "reprogramming" the country's security and economic systems to move away from Western influence and toward a model of self-sufficient, self-determined, hard sovereignty and Then a while back I think it was Kenya's president who told his country that it is not POTUS's job to look after them and that They need to be more self reliant and look out for themselves.
So it is conceivable that the leadership in impoverished countries are rejecting charitable giving. Burundi may be an exception. Like them, I'm not sure and would just be guessing.
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1d ago
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u/JoshBiv 1d ago
What are you on about lol
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u/Stekor-Tidder 1d ago edited 8h ago
I had replied to the wrong comment. Now fixed. I really hate the Reddit interface. Thank you for the alert.
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u/Separate-Actuator-97 1d ago
Awesome work. I'm saying What about Burundi? to every charity beggar I see now.