With Day Three coming to a close,, the team faced a difficult decision – distribution of funds.
As part of the inaugural Project Happy Feet Volunteer Leadership Experience, we each ‘earned’ and pooled together a sum of money to be utilized in support of worthy causes during this visit to Siem Reap. The sum, while not very large, was our responsibility. The duty to be responsible towards those who supported us never left our minds. And the question now remains: which cause to support?
So how does one decide when there is so much to be done? How do we decide that one programme is more deserving than the other and how can we make sure that we can stretch our funds to do as much as possible? How can we evaluate each programme based on the presentations that we were given?
And how do we tell any organization “sorry, we’re not able to support you” – even though we believe in their work?
The answer is: we can’t. In fact, there is no one right answer to the questions above.
And that’s why we deliberated long and hard. Each of us presented our case, and debated (albeit fiercely too) for our stand. Eventually, we discovered the best way forward was to make our collective decision on the utilization of the funds based on facts we were presented with. We stuck to our mission and vision and remembered that there are people back in Singapore who believed in our objectives and that it was our duty to be accountable to them.
The team finally decided on scholarships because that gave students a chance at education, an opportunity to break out of the poverty cycle and create positive footprints of change in the lives of their families.
Reflecting on the exercise we went through, the team learnt that when it comes to supporting a cause – or deciding which cause to fund – it is never black and white.
For every argument that was put forth, there is always an equally convincing counter argument, and there is no empirical way of proving any right or wrong argument. We all bring different perspectives and experiences to the table and we all have reasons to stand behind the causes that we feel strongly about.
We agreed to disagree and that experience gave us valuable insight into the moral dilemma that PHF grapples with each time it receives a call to support a cause.
On Thursday, as we leave Siem Reap, we leave knowing that this is not the end. It merely is the beginning of what we hope will be a fruitful journey towards creating positive impact here with the organizations that we’ve met.
