acjc09_ humanitarian_aid AQ/Syahirah/10S416

The author in passage 1 claims that “countries off the international radar will receive little or no aid from companies”. This means that nations which do not trade globally will get almost no help from others when in need because these countries, given their poor economies, will not be able to return anything to those who have helped them. Hence, this shows that those who are capable of offering help to countries that are in dire state, do take into account of their personal benefits before giving out monetary aid. Instead of lending a helping hand wholeheartedly, these business-minded people who are profit-driven will only look into what benefits they would reap when helping others. However, I do not agree with the author as not all donations from firms are based on self interest. There are companies which set out to give aid to people in need due to their compassion and sympathy towards others. For example, after the Tsunami struck Aceh in Indonesia a few years ago, volunteers from the Mercy Relief Singapore receive thousands of donations from Singaporeans, which would then be sent to the victims there. Hence, this reflects charitable acts which are not done with personal gains in mind, but true compassion and care for others in need.

Meanwhile, the author in passage 2 claims that rebuilding nations which have experienced disaster or war has now become a profitable business. So this implies that companies may not offer disaster-struck countries, when these countries are not able to return them anything, be it business opportunities or commercial gains. However, this may not be true all the time that oganisations choose to help countries in need if they are able to reap benefits from it. For an instance, local firms, such as NEWater, have donated bottles of NEWater to victims of flood-hit countries so as to provide these helpless people with drinkable water after their homes have been destroyed, depriving them of clean water. Hence, I argue that not all organisations have ulterior motives in giving aid to others as my example have proved so. Only companies which are profit-driven consider helping countries in need as an opportunity to seek more monetary gains.