Osipi
Member - in Memoriam
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2008
- Messages
- 17,267
- City
- On the west side of North up from Back
- Country
- United States
The West has been doing charity work in Africa for the last 70 yrs. The result is negligent, but still... Should we stop doing that as well? I'd be for it to be honest. It sometimes seems charity work there does more harm than good.
The thing is that I don't think we could actually hang the label of "charity" on what Harry is going to Africa to do. He's not going as a prince to raise awareness of anything nor will he be speaking out on any causes or patronages but rather he's going as Harry the man to get inside experience of exactly what it is that the people involved in conservation efforts actually do day in and day out. If I were to have to compare this trip of Harry's to Africa to anything else, the closest I think I could come would be when William spent 10 weeks in Chili with the Raleigh International. The primary reason William went was to make a difference and in the long run, that is what Harry aims to do.
In order to understand and actually be believed as credible, one has to have a good, working knowledge of what they're talking about. Harry has always been a very "hands on" type of person which I believe we've seen evidence of in his work with Walking With the Wounded. It would have been far easier for Harry to stand up and extol how brave and courageous it was for those that did the trek to the North and South poles than to have actually experienced it first hand with them. He was willing to go the extra miles, so to speak, to add even more credibility to what he was talking about when it came to what wounded service people can accomplish.
This trip to Africa will be for Harry like an internship to learn from the professionals what conservation entails and to get a first hand working knowledge of how its done. To me, this shows commitment.