Claire and Lara are in Cambodia. We have met lots of young people working here, who have dedicated themselves to trying to improve a country desperately in need of help in its admirable efforts to recover from some of the most brutal bloodshed in recent memory.

We have been really impressed with the work we have seen here—work to improve land mines, conditions for women, protection for children, as well as the condition of amazing historical sites. We are encouraged: non-profits, NGOs and the people who contribute in any way can really actually create change in all the ways that people should.

That said, Claire and Lara have both had negative non-profit and NGO experiences before. Having seen the sadly infamous bad side of these organizations in corruption, dishonest management, and wasted funds, we have at times been discouraged with the practicalities of such an admirable idea. Cambodia undoubtedly has these problems; even our guidebook reiterates that Cambodia can be considered the “gravy train to Geneva,” particularly for international consultants to NGO’s who are paid unbelievably well and mired very minimally in any actual problems.

So the take-home lesson of Cambodia for HateToHelp:

Thank you to those who already have, but everyone: Give. Help. Money. Time. Stuffed Animals. Whatever you can. However, do so in an informed way and help in numerous ways to minimize the problems in this country.

In addition to our usual HateToHelp efforts to give things away, we are also going to do our best to improve the NGO and non-profit world by contacting this organization, and asking if they know the type of message their name conveys. Though perhaps as the creators of HateToHelp (PR disaster that the name is) we are not the ones to talk.