I work in the heart of Penrith, and like all jobs, it has its ups and downs. One of the many ups is being involved in the projects run by my place of employment, which aim to improve the lives of the underprivilaged. Our company has its own foundation, which supports a small village in Uganda called Manya. Manya was deemed 'mission impossible', striken with poverty and HIV. But now, thanks to the Foundation which raises money through the proceeds of its $2 charity bags and bottles of water, it is able to fund health, education, infrastructure and sustainability within the village. Working in Penrith has allowed me to conduct an inadvertent participant observation of sorts, of people's responses and attitudes towards charitable donations. Although these attitudes vastly differ, patterns emerged through the observation of thousands of customers over many months, and through this, I was able to identify the motivations behind why they chose to donate. Such motivations became apparent when observing the difference between the responses elicited from customers when they are told that their donations would be going to a New Zealand Earthquake relief fund, and when they are told that their donations would be going to an underprivileged African village. Another interesting observation is how many people were more willing to purchase one of our charity items when with a group of people than those who went shopping on their own. This may not be typical of just “Penrith-ites”, yet this is definitely the 'subculture' I will be speaking of from extensive first hand experience. I am aware that the following may mirror attitudes of certain people from any part of Sydney, or any part of Australia for that matter. Yet this is simply an observation of many individuals I come into contact with on a regular basis.
I have heard everything there is to hear in response to the question “would you like to pop your clothes into a reusable bag or grab a cold bottle of water, they're only $2 and all proceeds go to helping the African village of Manya.” Some days are more discouraging than others. Some days I feel as though I should stop asking due to the high percentage of customers who repond with one of the following statements:
“Nah I've got plenty of bags.”
“Not really thirsty hey, I'll pass.”
“If I start doing that I'll go broke.”
“Don't you have any free bags?”
“I AM a charity.”
“I'll just pop it in my handbag.”
“I'll just carry my stuff, the cars not far away.”
Or most frustrating of all, is when all I receive is a blank, unresponsive glare.
Most recently, I had a customer ask me the specific details of where the proceeds would be going. I told her “the village of Manya which is in Uganda,” to which she reponded, “I haven't heard of that place, you sure you's aren't just making it up,” and finished with a snide giggle. I took a deep breath, packed her 7 items into a plastic bag, handed them to her, and through clenched teeth told her to have a lovely day. This exemplifies the unwillingness of some people to donate to a charity if they are blissfully unaware of the state of the world outside of their own sphere of ignorance.
In saying this, there are many people who enthusiastically agree, whether it is because they wish to support the charity, or just think the bag is nice. I concluded that most of the time when there was a direct verbal response to the charity such as, “that's a great cause to support,” or, “anything for the children”, the buyer was either with a friend or in a group. This may be due to the buyer's need to publicly broadcast their 'good deed', or through clear exhibitionism, portray themselves as having acute social awareness.
When an earthquake struck Christchurch, New Zealand, on 3 September 2010, my employer decided that for an entire week, all of the proceeds from the sale of charity items would go towards a New Zealand earthquake relief fund. In that one week, I saw the attitudes of the customers change dramatically. They would pick the bags or bottles of water up with a smile and say:
“Oh that's great I'll definitely help out.”
“We have to take care of our neighbours.”
“I've been following this on the news, isn't it terrible!”
Yet, of course, we still had the occasional “No.”
What changed? I can only conclude that because the proceeds were going towards a cause that people were being exposed to via media sources and the victims were much like themselves, people were more inclined to help. Media coverage showed dramatic scenes of a natural disaster in a neighbouring country not to disimiliar to our own, therefore it instantly warrents more attention than the anonymous child that dies in Africa every 3 seconds. Whether that is due to the 'Australian ideals' of 'mateship' and the 'Anzac Spirit' which seemingly shapes our national identity, or merely the shocking images of Christchurch in ruins, people were much more motivated by this cause.
It is unfair to say that the negative interactions that I have had are symptomatic of a wider attitude that exists in the Western Sydney community, yet there is a clear disinterest for charity from certain members of this community towards less news worthy and less photogenic causes. One merely has to drive through many new housing developments across the region to see the selfishness of many people embedded in their oversized houses and oversized cars, as they sit back and consume our resources with little regard for anything outside of themselves. Yet I stress to all who are reading this, this is not the face of Western Sydney, just that of those who give it a bad name. I have been heartened by the generocity of many and their genuine concern for the same causes that I myself are passionate about. Afterall, if it wasn't for such people, the Foundation that works towards the funding of health, education, infrastructure and sustainability within Manya, would not be the success that it is today.
