« Reply #1 on: April 28, 2012, 04:33:13 pm »
+1
If the kids want to talk about Africa, foreign policy and charity, that's great, if only because it demands that we all think a little harder about the questions.
But don't just pay the $30 for the action kit and tell the kids you're proud of them. That lets everyone off the hook: Invisible Children, your children and yourself. The campaign raised $5 million in two days and attracted 70 million views, while becoming the world's No. 1 news topic. Their aim of raising awareness is a mission accomplished. They don't need any more cash.
This is where we set the family another task: what can we do with our donation to make a difference? Get everyone - parents and children - to research other charities. Certainly every organisation working with former child soldiers, from War Child to Unicef to World Vision, is trying to attract some of that Kony traffic. Start assessing the charities' claims against the sites that review charity finances. Have a family meeting to decide who to help and how.
It's no good to blindly accept this sudden, viral impulse to buy an action kit. But it would be even worse to block the impulse with reflex cynicism.
Seems pretty unambiguous to me.

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