Everyclick Counts for Charity!

Raising cash at the click of a button!

This is taken from one of my hubs on the hub pages http://hubpages.com/hub/Everyclick-for-Charity and it's not about photography, but is still something that interested me so I hope it interests a few other people too!

I'd never heard of http://www.everyclick.com/ but I've checked it out and I don't see how it can be wrong, so I'm in! Have a read of my blog post here, and if you think it sounds interesting, have a look at everyclick and see if you want to get involved too.

How it all started

I was cleaning the bathroom at home yesterday, and it got me thinking. I'm not wealthy by UK standards, far from it, but... I am rich beyond words compared to those many millions of people who are living on the very edge of existence in developing regions all around the world!

As I turned on the taps to rinse the cleaning agent from the bath and the sink, I thought about what I was doing. I actually have taps, with fresh, clean water running from them whenever I choose. Hot or cold, heck, I can even mix it and get warm water if I want!

I have a toilet that flushes into a sewerage system to carry all that harmful waste away from my home, away from my family, away from the place I live, and where I eat and drink and sleep.

I don't have to walk five miles to get water and then have to carry it five miles back home, while all the time it's warming up and providing breeding grounds for malaria-carrying mosquitoes, or any other number of disease-causing organisms.

I don't have to wonder if it will be someone in my family that dies today of dehydration, or through lack of sanitation, or because of disease, starvation or poverty-driven civil war, or if will it be the family next to us that dies today.

To give or not to give

There is an argument for both sides. I have had many conversations over the years with many different people and opinions appear to be pretty much polarised.

"Why should we give to charity when our governments are wasting so much money and feathering their own nests?" An argument that is more poignant in the UK at the moment than perhaps it has been for quite a number of years. How many pumps for safe, fresh water could have been installed in rural communities across the developing world with the money our own politicians have fiddled out of the taxpayer over the years? How many childrens lives could have been saved?

"Why should we give to charity when the governments of the very countries we are trying to help are so corrupt. How do we know the money ever gets to the people we want to help?"

"Why should we give to charity when there is poverty and abuse and a need for charity in our own countries?"

My own thoughts have always been that I can't change corruption; I can't change the minds of the protagonists of war; I can't save everyone and I can't feed the world. But I might, just might be able to save one persons life. Or maybe two, or three... who knows?

It may not be much, but it's pretty much everything to that person, and to their family... and to the child they may have who can grow up healthy and free of disease because there is fresh water and sanitisation in their village, and access to primary healthcare and education.

A sort of ripple effect that started with a tiny drop of cash and a life that was saved.

Rose-tinted spectacles? Maybe.

Does that worry me? No!

Am I doing this and writing about this to make me a wonderful person and to salve my conscience for having the luxury of a bathroom to clean? Maybe.

Does it matter to the person whose life I may save? Probably not!

There are so many complexities to life and existence within this world. We are here for such a short time, why should I worry that people disagree with me?

People will always disagree and I will disagree with an equal number of people in turn. I can only do what is right for me and my beliefs. So long as I respect your opinions I hope that mine may be respected in turn.

To disagree is not to disrespect.

So what is Everyclick then?

Well, when I had finished cleaning the bathroom, I came in to search online for a charity called WaterAid. I found it, but also found a link there for something called 'Everyclick'.

It's a relatively new idea (I believe it started in 2005), and is a way of raising money online without actually doing anything except register and use their search engines. Every time you search for something, a donation is made to charity. Simple.

The money isn't taken from you. You give no bank details or private details.

I only found it yesterday so I don't have a great deal of knowledge about it, but I registered and I've used the search facility already and it all works fine. Hurrah.

What about WaterAid?

With Everyclick, I can choose to donate to any of the registered charities there, including WaterAid, or I can organise fundraising events, or I can simply raise money for the charity just by clicking the mouse!

I have done many things for charities before and I shall continue to do so as long as I live, but this is something that I can do without even thinking about it. Something I do several times every single day so that it will become habitual.

Even if it is only a fraction of a penny that is donated each time, so what? It will all add up and it is one more fraction of a penny than they had this morning!

Who knew cleaning the bathroom could lead to all this... maybe even save a child's life? By 'eck!

http://www.wateraid.org/uk/
http://www.endwaterpoverty.org/