We’ll quite happily pay out for our children to do sponsored silences for charity.
The welcome break from their babble is worth dhs50 after all.
The more kindhearted among us will even give a few hundred to a colleague running the marathon in aid of a good cause.
But as friends declare they’re off to trek through Peru or the Himalayas and ask us to shell out our hard earned cash, it gets more difficult to delve into our pockets.
Despite wanting to support their honourable ventures, thoughts such as ‘this is just a holiday for them’, keep springing to mind.
So, as Gulf For Good launches plans for next year’s trips, we speak to some previous trekkers about why these trips are much more than ‘just holidays’.
Jacqueline Dyson, from South Africa, had never been on a charity trek when she signed up to visit the Himalayas earlier this year.
She says it helped her see a world outside her own worries.
?“Most of us worry about how we can’t afford a new pair of sunglasses or a brunch at the weekend but there are so many people who are in far worse situations,” she explains.
“Because of the credit crunch, we’re all pitying ourselves but when you look at what dire straites these people were in before the crash and now how it has affected them, because they’ve been so badly hit by tourism, it’s a big eye-opener.”
Jacqueline says supporting friends to go on trips such as these doesn’t just help a charity support projects they are running at that moment in time, but helps change lives forever.
“Gulf For Good is very focused on children and that’s what I love about it. What I realised in India is that if we spend enough time and do enough good in these countries, children will see that not everybody is a taker, there are some givers and it will change their perception.
“It’s much more than giving them something for the next two years to help them grow, it inspires them to do better with their lives.”
And you’re not just paying for your friends to have a trip to a foreign country either.
Mum of two, Triptta Fernandez did Gulf For Good’s Alternative Inca Trail trek through Peru. She says, like the majority who sign up, she paid for her registration fee, flights, visas with every dirham raised in sponsorship going to charity.
And rather than making a one off donation, taking part in the trip has inspired her to continue helping the needy.
“We went to a school that was built with the money raised and saw where our money was going.
We played with the children and went to their homes. The whole idea of the project is to transform lives and change the mindset of parents too.
“I went to see a family of six children who had an alcoholic mother. The father, who had left, sends $20 back a month.
“There were three carrots the size of my little finger rolling in mud that these children eat.
It made me realise I’m not just going to spend without thinking because I’d rather send $100 a month to the family.
“I’m in touch with a woman there now to work out how I can support the kids without the money being spent on the mother’s alcohol.”
Yousef Tuqan says actually taking time to visit countries where people are suffering is challenging.
“You really do make a difference to people’s lives.
Yes, it’s packaged in a fun way so it’s different to writing a cheque once a year but that would be easier,” he explains.
“It’s a lot more noble than people writing cheques at a gala dinner once a year while having fun. We have to take time off work, train athletically and pay for our trip but at the same time, the fact that you’re doing all this gives you chance to raise awareness and involve people in the charity.”
And he says the knock on effects of taking a trip can be amazing.
“There was a doctor who went to Everest with Gulf 4 Good and met a young girl on the trip who aspired to be a doctor. Since then he’s actually paid for her college education.
“It’s a wonderful example of people doing so much more than they signed up for.”
eve.dugdale@7days.ae
Sorce:http://www.7days.ae
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