Welcome to the Galway One World Centre’s website!

Here, we try to bring you – and on a regular basis, no less! – alternative views on current news stories, must-read articles and other bits and pieces we thought you might like to know about. Don’t worry, if you miss any, you can read all of them on the Updates page …

Also, check out our new events which will be updated as they arise – best way to keep up with it is to subscribe!

December

Christmas is coming up! And with it an increase in junk mail and charity appeals …

Just the other day I found myself wondering what I like and dislike about Christmas. For me, Christmas is about long dark evenings, good food and nice company … But as Christmas is becoming more and more commercialised, there is also an increase in junk mail and really crappy advertising extolling us to buy more for our ‘loved ones’. And so to  charity appeals – be it the straightforward kind (this Christmas give generously for ….), the charity single (another thing Live Aid can be blamed for), or indeed the ‘gifts with a difference’ – anything from seeds to animals that can be bought for ‘poor people’.

All of this, however, leaves a bad taste in my mouth at least. Why though? Is it because it adds to the saccharine overdose? Or is it because I resent the implication that Christmas equals charity? I guess it’s mainly because any attempts by NGOs to provide a more complex picture of Aid issues during the year are somehow wiped out in the months before Christmas. It is purely aimed at charity with no consideration given for the impact on  the ground. To be blunt – it feels as if all NGOs are mainly trying to cash in on the goodwill of Christmas and damn the consequences.

Here is a poem by a US teenager which touches on some of the impacts of thoughtless charity advertising - We’re cool like that.

A humorous take on sending goats to Africa.

Fo a number of years, there used to be the annual SWEDOW awards around Christmas. Wondering what that stands for? Stuff We DOn’t Want – and it’s all about various charitable approaches to ‘help the poor’ … which are really more about helping your business or salving your conscience. So from sending used pillow cases to buying an extra pair of shoes, these gifts are generally neither needed nor wanted – and most often they actually have a detrimental effect on the local economy.

Tales from the Hood also have a very good article analysing the whole “gift-in-kind” (GIK) phenomenon.

Lastly an ad which might sound good as an idea but completely falls into the trap of projecting Africa as a place only of death.