In November for my 40th birthday I accepted the challenge of doing 40 different things before the end of my 40th year. I am not sure if I will complete everything on the list, but it is a great list and one that I am enjoying thinking of, even if I can’t do each thing.
One of the suggestions was to give $40 a month to a charity. My goal was to give this money to small local charities. In November I gave to the DC Central Kitchen, where I volunteered as an undergraduate at the University of Maryland. December still has me working on the logistics of giving to a local Tower Hamlets autism charity which helped dear friends of mine and their son.
January, February and March?
For each of these months I have given to natural disaster relief funds.
With the floods in Australia in January, I gave to the Queensland government appeal. We were lucky – none of our family in Brisbane was impacted. But in 2010 I negotiated with a company based in Brisbane, and 9 employees were severely impacted by the flood, losing their homes. I donated with each of these families in mind.
In February I donated to the Christchurch New Zealand earthquake relief appeal. When I lived in Japan I had friends from Christchurch, saw photos of their town, and have always dreamed about when I would have a chance to visit. In honour of my friends and their families, I gave.
And now March. I have again donated to the Red Cross and their Japan Tsunami appeal. The Red Cross are the first on the ground in natural disasters, providing basic shelter, blankets and service to those who have lost so much. Japan is close to my heart. I studied Japanese for nearly 10 years. I live in southern Japan for two years after graduating from university. I am lucky to once again be doing business with Japan, and have been visiting Tokyo regularly since 2009. And I feel fortunate – because last week, instead of our usual “China followed by Japan” trip, we returned directly to London, meaning that rather than being in a meeting room in central Tokyo when the quake struck, I was heading home from London Heathrow airport. I donate to help a country that I love, a people that I respect, and to help the clean up and rebuilding from a natural disaster whose scale and consequence is so enormous that it will impact everyone – from the residents in the area to those of us doing business from afar – for quite some time.
I chose to accept a challenge to donate $40 per month to a charity that had a special meaning for me. I had intended to donate to small local charities, to learn about new not-for-profit organisations while doing this challenge. But then disaster struck – not once but three times – and in each case, the disaster felt close to home for me… I think probably for anyone, as the human tragedy of each event is just that – a tragedy. And when it comes to tragedy, I really like what Neil Abercrombie (Governor of Hawaii) said on Friday the 11th of March:
“Be sensible and act with aloha”
When it comes to charity donation, I think Neil’s advice is fitting too. Be sensible – donate what you can, as every cent will help someone. Giving in situations like this is an act of aloha – a demonstration of love, kindness, compassion and generosity.