l gave an awful feeling

I now give to smaller charities where I know and trust the person, and they themselves go out every six months or so, to make sure that the money is going direct to where it is needed, and they do not take a cut of anything that is donated. Not even for air fares.
And they also provide pictures and regular updates.

Check out ourworldindata.org for facts and stats about improvement in Africa (and the rest of the world), Maw.

I am not meaning the specific countries that are in the news right now.

So it's not out of the realms of imagination then that they cause the war to starve the people to rake in the aid?

I just looked in Google images for 'somalia starving baby mother'. It's difficult to know the full extent from pictures, but it seemed to me that the women holding their babies looked emaciated. Presumably, a malnourished mother can't breastfeed her baby and the baby will show signs of starvation before the mother.

You seem to be implying that mothers are feeding themselves and leaving their babies to starve. I don't see the evidence for that. However, even if it is true, the brutal reality is that it probably makes more sense to let the baby starve rather than the mother, who will be of more use to her community, especially if she has other children.

Do they cause the rain to stop falling too?

It is quite possible for individuals, or a group of individuals to make a difference themselves.
It does involve though, regular visits, to make sure the money or donations are actually benefitting those who are supposed to be receiving the help.

Here's a link that shows the IQ of countries. The IQ being linked to levels of corruption also. See which countries rank the lowest then ask where your foreign aid is really going.

iq-research.info/en/page/average-iq-by-country

Daphnedill, I have to go to work so you'll have to spend your day trying to trip someone else up. Meanwhile enjoy your Googling.

DH did comment that some of the mothers looked a reasonable weight but were carrying an emaciated child and I pointed out that losing even a quarter of body weight is more disastrous for a small child than for an adult.

Not trying to trip anyone up!!

Nina 1959 You seem to be implying that African mothers place their own need for food above that of their babies. So you think African mothers are somehow different from other mothers?

The nutritional needs of adults compared to babies/children are completely different. An adult can survive much longer without adequate food than a baby who can only digest mother's or formula milk. Young children are still growing - their bodies still forming. Whilst adults' bodies will, of course, deteriorate if they are malnourished or starving, it will be a slower process. In many areas there is no access to clean water and children are much more vulnerable to diseases carried in dirty water.

Jalima If we used the "if we didn't do it, someone else would" argument to justify the manufacture and sale of arms for profit, then surely the same logic could be used for any form of socially and environmentally damaging enterprise - as long as it makes money?

I don't trust what is presented in Africa. Australia has years of droughts. They have a population of only 21 million and land size almost the same as the US barring two states.
The have implemented desalination plants, use grey water and they conserve water.

Africa has been receiving aid for decades, has a population of 1.2 billion and still needs more aid. Where has the money been going for the last 50 years???
Can you show me?

edition.cnn.com/2011/BUSINESS/02/09/joseph.stiglitz.africa/

Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel economics laureate and a former World Bank chief economist, said in 2011 that the West has facilitated, and benefited from, corruption in Africa.

"One of the countries that hosted the G-20 and talked all the time about tax corruption, that same country is a haven for corrupt money and refuses to repatriate money that has been stolen from Africa," he said.

"Now, this seems to me something that ought to be on the agenda. There's a relationship, there are people making money off of it, and we ought to stop that.

"We shouldn't enable that corruption and we're doing that in the West when we allow them to have their secret bank accounts."

Stiglitz added that there was reason for optimism about economic growth in Africa, with changes to economic policies in recent years starting to bear fruit.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/uk-foreign-aid-budget_uk_57d953afe4b00f741735477f

IQ tests are bollocks. They are culturally biased.

Maybe Luckygirl but look at which countries are deemed most corrupt then look where our foreign aid budget is going. This was until Piri Patel spotted the obvious.

Jalima If we used the "if we didn't do it, someone else would" argument to justify the manufacture and sale of arms for profit, then surely the same logic could be used for any form of socially and environmentally damaging enterprise - as long as it makes money

Yes, of course, and I am not saying that we should carry on manufacturing and selling arms for profit - but we know that if we did not we could salve our consciences but we also know full well that someone else would fill that gap. We could have a clear conscience but the situation would still be the same in war-torn countries.

It is a separate argument whether we should or should not.

Thank you for all those most interesting comments. I was very moved to hear how much money had been donated and so quickly in the UK. Incidentally you can now donate your nectar points to the cause.

Maybe other countries are manufacturing arms BECAUSE we are.
How do you know otherwise?
Maybe if we stopped other countries would, too.

Around 10 miles from where I live is an extremely well-to-do town, I surely couldn't stand to live there. So I was completely alarmed to discover that the town playschool had gotten a £1000 allow from youngsters out of luck, along these lines I concur with different notices on here that you have to attempt and look at the philanthropy before giving.

www.muslimaidusa.org/yemen-emergency-appeal/

These and other countries are like sponges.
Nothing has changed in decades despite billions and billions of aid being given not to mention individual charities raising money to alleviate want after disasters.
It's no lie that much aid has been appropriated before reaching it's target.
It's the fault of the regimes which govern those countries.
Corruption writ large.

muslimaidusa
What's the fact that you 'surely couldn't live there' got to do with it?

'a $1000 allow from youngsters out of luck...'?
Sorry, that makes no sense.

An inspirational film I watched on Netflix last week: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. It's a true story of a young lad who, excluded from school because his parents couldn't afford the fees, as a result of disastrous floods followed by equally disastrous famine, managed to sneak into the school library and find a book that enabled him to construct a windmill with which he generated power to operate a pump. Thus the people of the community were enabled to irrigate their fields. It's a 'can do' story which is a fine example to other communities and to the NGOs who should be helping to provide the technology needed for DiY enterprises.
Incidentally, the boy was enabled to further his education and went on to take a degree in America. Other communities in Malawi were supplied with his windmills.

Bluebelle - you state that most charities take such big cuts that half the money doesn't reach its targets. Here is a summary of the annual report of Save the Children for 2017, the latest available. Since their year end is 31 December the 2018 figures are not yet published. The accounts have been independently audited.

£000

Total funds 406.558
fundraising exps 38,050
charitable acitivities 370,525
Other expenses 512

Total spend 408.063

Deficit - 1,505

Investment income/gains + 2,155

Net surplus 650

I think that you can agree that spending of £38,562,000 is somewhat less than half of the total income of £408,713,000 and that 90.6% of the total income (including investment income)

I was a volunteer for SCF for 20 years whilst I lived in the UK and their aim was always to use around 90% for charitable activities and they have stuck stuck to that aim. I think you will find that the other major charities have similar aims. I am aware that SCF along with Oxfam and others have ongoing problems with sexual harassment amongst the overseas workforce but that should not cloud their financial results and their main aims.

Should you wish to delve deeper you will find the Annual Report on their website.