> Very well put.  Do not just give them a fish, but teach them how to 
> fish.

I appreciate James' and others' sentiments BUT at present in places 
like parts of Lebanon one is unlikely to survive long enough to learn 
how to fish if someone doesn't help you in the short term. And 
yesterday you probably knew how to fish just fine - it's just that 
someone has suddenly killed all the fish, drained the dam and is now 
dropping bombs on what's left.

I appreciate the merit of James' hobbyhorse - I have similar horses 
similar to it :-) - BUT in this case it's actually a red herring, even 
though it looks like a horse.

The majority of people living in the south of Lebanon are currently 
serving in much the same role as the Belgian people as a whole have 
traditionally done. Look at all the names of great European battles of 
centuries past and you'll find that many are Belgian place names. 
(Waterloo, ... ). Most were battlegrounds because Belgium was a 
convenient corridor for other people to traipse through to fight other 
people.

In southern Lebanon the people who decided to start firing Chinese 
manufactured, Iranian supplied long range rockets into Israeli cities 
are very probably not mostly Lebanese and almost certainly didn't grow 
up in the area. Regardless of the merits of the conflict the current 
issue does not 'belong' to those who are suffering most and the MAJOR 
need is short term relief to keep people alive - not development aid 
to provide sustainable existence. They mostly had sustainable enough 
existence (not necessarily of a form that all on this list would be 
happy to share) before the present crisis erupted.

Re aid organisations. I'm not a great UN fan but I passed on their 
newsletter - they are trying to help here and will do some good and 
they have credibility internationally in a situation where that is 
especially needed. Heifer and other schemes like it are great - but 
they don't fill every need, and just because they don't address some 
areas it doesn't mean that that area doesn't need addressing. The 
Mennonites are great on all sorts of counts - they major in addressing 
"the whole man". Oxfam are also great - in a lesser range of roles 
than the Mennonites, but they are more capable in some areas in some 
cases. When it comes to providing frontline practical aid at very very 
very short notice they SEEM to me to be about as practical and 
effective as any other organisation I know of. They may not have their 
own DC3 (and they may) but they surely know how to discern the 
immediate need and to get pallets of whatever is needed into other 
people's Hercules and the like in record time. Hours and days - not 
weeks and months.

If anyone knows of other organisations which are as good or better I'd 
be genuinely pleased to know of them. They beat the UN into Indonesia 
last time around by many many weeks. Also, if anyone has hard evidence 
that Oxfam is less rosy and effective than my starry-eyed image of 
them indicates I'd also be pleased to know. (FWIW / FYI Oxfam started 
during WW2 as "Oxford Famine Relief" to assist people in Greece 
(possibly mainly UK citizens ?) affected by the war. )[I have no 
connection with Oxfam other than sending them money occasionally 
:-) ].

If (when) the San Andreas decides to let loose big-time then I'm sure 
James and those nearby will be wanting others to provide short term 
palliative aid rather than development assistance. I'm sure that in 
such a case James would personally be willing to contribute massively 
and practically in the short term to assisting his fellow citizens get 
through the immediate crisis, and that longer term planning would seem 
of lesser priority. Immediate practical palliative aid is what Lebanon 
needs right now.



            Russell




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