The little girl in the picture is called Sah. She is two years old and has just seen her mother, Bendu, for the first time in her life, in fact, she has just seen anything and everything for the first time in her life because she was born blind - and deaf. It was lucky for her that Bendu heard that the Mercy Ship was calling into their country's main port and despite the fears of friends and family she picked up little Sah and carried her miles into the big city to seek help. The ship is staffed entirely by unpaid volunteers - surgeons, doctors, nurses, cooks, engineers, whatever - all unpaid. In a few days two cataract operations were carried out and Sah can at least see.
Now I tend to become slightly irritated when people dun me for charity donations. I am not a rich man and I have to ration my giving. However, I am still going to ask you to give a bit because, quite apart from the very obvious benefits it bestows on the truly wretched, Mercy Ships has to be one of the most cost effective charities in the world given that almost everyone is an unpaid volunteer - many of them even pay their own air fares to reach the ship!
So, my offer is this. Click here and make a donation of £5 - more if you can but I'm just asking you to give a minimum of £5 - and I will match the first five of my readers to pledge £5 with £25 of my own. Come on, it's only a fiver - the price of a couple of pints and it will take less time to fill in the donation form than it takes to catch the eye of your local barman! Then just comment below and tell me you have pledged a fiver. Remember, the honour of Duff & Nonsense is at stake!
Oh, and think of all the other little Sahs who are waiting for their chances!
I have just been moved by your request to donate £5
Posted by: Simon Walters | Wednesday, 17 June 2009 at 11:41
A difficult one to ignore. I have just made a donation.
Posted by: Brian Aris | Wednesday, 17 June 2009 at 12:28
Simon! Fancy meeting you down this dark alley leading to D&N! I never realised you were a visitor. Good to see you again the other night and I'm sorry I had to get away rather quickly but I had a 2-hour drive in front of me.
Brian, good to hear from you again.
Well done the RSS-ers even if the rest of my readers have suddenly gone on the missing list! Despite that I have just sent Mercy Ships my £25 anyway.
Every little helps, so thanks for your contribution.
Posted by: David Duff | Thursday, 18 June 2009 at 15:36
Sorry, I'm a bit late to this post but I've made a donation.
Now if you'll permit me to do a bit of chugging of my own and request a small loan to the business of your choice with these folk http://www.kiva.org/ . The minimum loan is twenty five US dollars which I think works out at around £13.00 and as it's a loan one tiny donation can be lent repeatedly. I'm currently in the Rum and fashion business.
Posted by: Clairwil | Tuesday, 30 June 2009 at 00:56
Well done, Clairwil, consider yourself covered in kisses - er, not be me, of course, too, too, grisly!
Yes, I know about KIVA and I have it logged on my 'Favourites' list but have never got around to doing anything about it. I think it is an excellent way of helping people and, of course, it appeals to the capitalist in me. (Must do something about it!)
Posted by: David Duff | Tuesday, 30 June 2009 at 10:27