Everybody is talking about the ALS ice bucket challenge. A
bunch of them are doing it too. I’ve heard loads of people debating whether
wasting a bucket of water is legitimate or not. Most people come to a truce
saying “Agreed, wasting water is a bad idea, but if throwing a bucket of water is spreading awareness and raising
donations, why not?”
I’ll answer the why not for you.
“An estimated 801,000
children younger than 5 years of age perish from diarrhea each year, mostly in
developing countries. This amounts to 11% of the 7.6 million deaths of children
under the age of five and means that about 2,200 children are dying every day
as a result of diarrheal diseases. Unsafe drinking water, inadequate
availability of water for hygiene, and lack of access to sanitation together
contribute to about 88% of deaths from diarrheal diseases.” – WHO
And the statistics above only account for the deaths of
children.
For you, it’s just one bucket of water. Add up all those
single buckets your friends used, and you’ll get a swimming pool. Add up all
the buckets wasted by people all over the world, you might just get a dam. That
one bucket doesn’t mean anything to you, even if you waste it every day. So if
you transport a dam-worth water to a place where fresh water is scarce every
now and then, you might just save hundreds of lives!
Wastage of water is just one of the reasons. Another reason
which hasn’t been highlighted by many so far, is the amount of money that is
actually going to be put into research for ALS.
The annual report
of 2012 says:
Research $3,904,240 7.71%
Other program activities
$32,214,563 63.63%
Fundraising
$9,169,818 18.11%
General &
administration $5,335,872 10.54%
Currently though, they say they’re giving 28% to research.
It’s a progress from the measly 7%, but considering the amount of money donated
recently, isn’t 28% a bit too less? Whenever you donate to any foundation, do
check WHERE your money is going. That way, you might be able to reach out to a
wider range of people!
The idea behind creating awareness was brilliant. Not many people
can resist a challenge. So by doing exactly that, the challenge spread worldwide
and people who hadn’t even heard of ALS before considered donating money to support
the cause. Conflict was created due to two reasons – wastage of water (as I
mentioned above) and “why don’t we support other diseases that are claiming the
lives of many more?” According to me, the challenge could have been something
different. Perhaps something that didn’t lead to such a great loss of water
like a guy cheerleading and a girl doing something equally funny and posting a
video of it or whatever else. This way, you could create awareness without
harming anyone.
As for supporting other causes…. Various diseases are responsible
for millions of deaths. Not donating for something that causes less number of
deaths, or not donating simply because people in India aren’t affected by it,
is inconsiderate and stupid. It’s like not helping your neighbour who is at war
draft a peace treaty. Eventually, it’s going to come to your borders too, and
that time you may not be able to do anything about it.
There are other things to think about as well. I digress a
bit but tobacco, for instance, is responsible for the death of 1 in 10 adults
worldwide. Why don’t we urge the government to do something about it? Why don’t we have a campaign to put a
ban against tobacco (or cigarettes too for that matter) yet?
Thanks for reading! And do share the message if not the
post.
Kanksha
PS: All of us donating for one cause won’t help as much as
different people donating for different causes. So go donate money where they
require it, but please do your research first. Only then will it truly make a
difference!
