Ever since I have been contributing to this newspaper I have written about Charity campaigns.

I must log in that I have a problem, not only with the way these events are steered, but by the concept itself.  I just cannot understand how in this day and age when we are spending over €1 billion per year in social services we still need these campaigns to fund our social projects.

On the other hand, hand on heart I need to claim an inconsistency from my end. 

The contradiction is that whenever I am asked to get involved in similar campaigns I have done so because I also acknowledge that these fund-raisers are a quick fix solution to the woes that people are facing and that long-term social policy strategies do not address expediently enough.  If it wasn’t for these minute initiatives we would be struggling big time with responding to the micro-needs that circumvent our communities, especially for those who are at the bottom of the heap.

For example;

How would Puttinu have set up such an important service?

How would Dar tal-Providenza survive the cost of hosting disabled persons who for more than one reason have no alternative but to live in that residential home?

How would the men and women being serviced at Dar Bjorn survive their terrible condition if they weren’t hosted by such a noble project?

How would Caritas see through its numerous projects?

How would Inspire offer its services?

I could go on.

Nevertheless, let us for once in this Country say things as they are. 

These telethons perpetuate a model of pity and misfortune.

I’ve had innumerable conversations with Peppi Azzopardi, the guru of these efficacious campaigns, on this matter.

Now, I meet Peppi half-way on a number of issues, but on this one I have a completely different standpoint. In my opinion we are using TV to alienate us with the voyeuristic clips and features that aim at the heart. In my opinion, these campaigns personify the notion that individuals with ailments become a commodity to our need to commiserate.  A friend of mine told me some days ago; ‘tear-jerking is not necessarily a bad thing, at least it spurns people to reflect on what is happening’.

I can see the point here but I would still not go down that road.

There are so many other ways to create mindfulness and potential responses. Representing people in images of hopelessness and helplessness will not resolve the issues on a long-term basis. 

Look at what happened to the disability sector. 

The charity model that has packaged this sector still portrays disabled people as being powerless and feeble and as ‘angels’ dependent entirely on charity. For many of us these people are rendered as unable to give back to society - something we all know is untrue.  But how do you get out of this rut now?

What I’m worried is that we are not really solving the issues that these NGOs are seeking to address through these campaigns and heartrending telethons.

They surely don’t embolden or initiate sustainable transformations.  I do understand that story-telling is a very effective means of getting people to understand what the real issues are but there is another thorny variable here, namely, that we are using children.  Much as I value the assessments being done by Agenzija Appogg, I still have my misgivings because this is not just about protecting the psyche of the individual but about safeguarding privacy, which no assessment can ever defend. 

Nonetheless, I feel uncomfortable writing in this way because I know that collecting these funds also brings a massive change to people’s lives.  Apart from that I also appreciate that there is value in getting people to empathise with the cause.

This time round, the Puttinu telethon had another variable. 

The infamous call of the Prime Minister during the broadcast from Australia in my opinion created a storm in a tea cup.  The Prime Minister who accompanied our athletes to the Commonwealth games called at the tail-end of the show to inform the volunteers of Puttinu that the Government will be topping up the proceedings with another €5 million to help in the project. 

It is now that all hell broke loose. 

Now whilst I think that timing in politics is of the essence, this wasn’t the first time that the Prime Minister called during Xarabank to pledge Government support for a project. Neither was it the only time that politicians intervened.  A couple of occasions come to mind; namely, the setting up of Dar Bjorn and the money that was dedicated to Leah’s treatment (My own personal epiphany, TMI, 16/12/15) who had to undergo therapy in the US which the family couldn’t afford and neither was it covered with our NHS.  These are only a couple that come to mind.  I for one know of a friend of mine that hadn’t it been for the direct intervention of two Prime Ministers (from two different political parties) and two Presidents, there was no way this person could get the much needed support to see him through and he would have ended up institutionalised.  Oh and another ‘Government intervention’ happened when following the 2005 and the 2015 CHOGM, the cars used in those events were auctioned and the money went to the Malta Community Chest Fund.

At a time when we are recording surplus in our economy and almost zero unemployment, I think it is the time that mega projects like these need to be funded by the State and its operations and running are left to the volunteers.  Volunteers are specialists in giving a thrust and momentum for such worthy causes.  Expecting them to have the necessary qualities to collect the funds for these projects is simply getting them away from their savoir-faire. In other words, motivation does not make you a competent fund raiser.  

But to avoid all of this, if you had to ask me, funds should be given before to side-step these telethons and at the same time avoid that families have to bare all their life and pain.  To add, the money should have been pledged before the start of the programme and we would have avoided the nonsensical tirade of pressure that was being made on people to donate money – almost expecting to see Peppi jumping out of my television at any moment. And the fact that we have a fully-fledged Ministry dedicated to social affairs, such funds should be directed to that Ministry and it is then that the money is distributed to the respective NGOs – once we have the systems in place, why not use them?