The day started at 6:00 AM in Budapest with BBC video reports of the earthquake disaster in Haiti, with photos of buildings irreparably damaged and lifeless and injured bodies strewn on the streets.
Later in the morning the Watchdog helped his son Richard deliver food stuffs to a Red Cross day care center that served lunch to 400 at noon and a wholesome ‘snack’ to 200 at 3:00 in the afternoon. Earlier, he had helped carry packages of diapers and baby fomula into a Red Cross shelter for women
Also he visited with staff at a center for the homeless and then accompanied them to look at a three story hotel hitherto used by workers from Eastern Hungary or from out of the country but now for sale due to the lack of occupancy due to the slow economy. The Red Cross is losing a similar size housing dormitory that had been supplied by a district government,
Having interviewed leaders of some of Lancaster’s social safety-net organizations, the Watchdog recognized that the challenges faced and problems to overcome in Budapest and rural areas of Hungary, were quite similar but only many times greater in number than in Lancaster. The need is for a program to catch the homeless before they lose their sense of self worth and to aid them in returning to productive lives on their own.
Food and shelter is not enough; it requires coaching, training, inducements and even some money to help them get settled. Lancaster’s Water Street Mission is a splendid example of the various services that the social workers describe as needed, all under one roof. Where ever possible, it saves people and children from the streets; helps them to stabilize their lives; provide essential training in work skills, discipline, interviews and computer literacy; and seeks to transition them back to independent living arrangements.
In Hungary as in the USA, social safety net charities depend upon government funding to defray much of the cost of their services. However, the amount of such aid has been significantly reduced over the past year, so at the very time when expansion of aid is warranted, contraction is taking place.
A meeting with Hungarian Red Cross President George Habsburg (Yes, of the royal Habsburg family!) was followed by a conversation with its General Director Erik Selmyes.
The subject of the immense of amount of relief that Haiti is likely to receive came up. Selmyes proudly reported that aid was already in the pipe line from Hungary; The Watchdog reflected that Hungary might have been served by applying the funds at home… but then again, we are taught that even beggars should give something to those more needy to perform a good deed and preserve their self respect.
Humans seem to respond generously to disaster relief but not as much to ongoing needs. Perhaps unconsciously we blame the poor for their condition.
The Watchdog brought up the two schools of thoughts: Spend the money received here and now on relief because this is the intent of the donors; hold back a half or two thirds for future years to fund longer periods of education and evolution to independence since this is what is required to turn around lives.
Questioned as to which approach Selymes supports, he responded “both.”
The Watchdog will probably return within the month to meet with the just arrived new USA Ambassador, Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis. He looks forward to the carrying of arms full of supplies to help feed those in need. And perhaps son Richard will once again include a few pairs of shoes for those who otherwise might go barefoot.
