Yes, a little girl does wait, a little girl in a poverty stricken country. Surely if after several years of doing the famine I would realise that people do need support. If I'm willing to support those overseas, why won't I support others in this country. Shouldn't the charity start at home? That is what I always used to think. how can I say these things? How can I say I don't support bludging when I get money from my parents frequentlY? That is still bludging and I know for a fact that my parents work incredibly hard? I say that I"m sympathetic and yet if I see someone in the street in need of something I turn a blind eye and pretend they aren't there. I do give change to poor people if they ask though and I do it because I knwo they need it. Oh but thats different, thats personal, its hard to say no to someone face to face and giving can feel good at times.

Thats it, I'm ringing world vision and I'm going to sponsor a child, so what if I lose $7 a week, they have nothing and I have so much. How can someone with so muh be so selfish? I've never been rich but I've always had things, and I've always had things because of my parents generosity, without which I wouldn't still be in Auckland and I wouldn't be at university.

What do you do when it comes to giving?

I really wouldnt consider the 36 dollars i give to world vision as a 'loss' but there we are.

i never liked the charity starts at home deal. being a commie, i think that the eutopian solution is that in which the people at the very bottom are helped first. if you chop off the top 1% of affluent world and give everything they have to the people who actually need it, you'd be a very long way into solving the problems of the bottom 50% (of course, thats so simple its ridiculous). Woman own 12% of the worlds land. The problems of the poor in new zealand pale in comparison to those in latin america, in china and southern asia and of course in africa. I realise thats easy for me to say, im not dirt poor.

On the idea of the government giving a universal student allowance, i can remember being asked to sign a petition for it, and i was sitting next to a friend of mine. She is well rich, doesnt pay for anything for herself and will have no loan. On that basis, there is no justification for a universal student allowance, the solution to the problem of student funds is much more complicated than that. Some people simply dont need tax payer money to help them live while studying, the problem is differentiating between those that do and dont need it.

As someone who has parents who are not rich, but constantly receives money from them, I don't think you can judge whether or not you receive a student allowance on the parents income alone.

My parents are generous, some wouldn't be.
Some people may have parents who are rich but it doesn't mean they will receive money from their parents towards their studying costs.

When it comes to giving, I prefer to keep quiet about it. Shouting about donations to 'charity' is such bad taste. I wouldn't consider it as losing $7 a week either - perhaps you should get a proper job or strike for more pay then you could lose $14 per week.

oh damn yes. Theres nothing worse than hearing somebody talking about their world vision sponsorship, or how much they gave to the red cross. IT brings into question their whole motivation for giving.

I would agree that it does make you question someone's motives for giving. I personally keep quiet about giving to other people myself because I don't want people to know that I am generous.

Having said that, it was excellent to see the way everyone was giving to the tsunami fund.

I personally keep quiet about giving to other people myself because I don't want people to know that I am generous. - liz shaw

im sorry, did you miss the point?