In the wake of the devastation caused by the tsunami in the Indian Ocean over break, members of the Tufts community both on- and off- campus are mobilizing to make a difference.
Student organizations across the board are organizing fundraisers for tsunami victims, including fraternities and culture organizations. One of the most notable is an amalgam of about eight student groups, brought together into the so-called Jumbo Tsunami Relief Fund.
The Fund is a blanket effort whereby the involved organizations will hold separate fundraisers and donate all the money to the Fund. The money will then be donated to UNICEF, says co-organizer Pongrat Aroonvatanaporn.
This also involves a variety of student groups, including Asian culture associations like the Thai Club, the Jewish Culture Club (JCC), and the Asian Community at Tufts (ACT), as well as the Leonard Carmichael Society and the International Club.
The Fund also has 15 cosponsors, including the Institute for Global Leadership and some administrative offices, which have given $2,200. The money donated by these sponsors cannot go directly to the Fund itself, but will be used by the organizations involved for expenses. The Young Entrepenuers at Tufts will be helping with marketing for the events.
According to Aroonvatanaporn, although it may be easy for people far away from the devastation to become complacent, it is essential that they get involved.
"The magnitude of this disaster is beyond anyone's imagination," he said. "Even though we were not directly or physically affected by the tsunami, this is a worldwide problem."
The importance of such involvement should be especially evident at a place like Tufts. "Since Tufts is a very diverse and internationally-oriented institution," Aroonvatanaporn said, "as members of the international community, we are obligated to mobilize all the resources and support from the Tufts community to join this worldwide relief effort."
The organizations participating in the fund are finding creative, apropos ways to fundraise. The Thai Club, for instance, is selling t-shirts with the slogan "Let's Lend a Jumbo Hand."
The ACT is holding a service auction, at which students can bid on services offered by other students. This is "a lot more personal than just writing a check" according to ACT vice president Bic Leu, because the students will be "directly participating" in the tsunami effort.
The JCC will be selling paper for origami-making. Its goal is to send 1,000 paper cranes along with its donation.
This symbol has its roots in Japanese mythology, in which 1,000 paper cranes are "the ultimate expression of wishing somebody good health and showing your support for someone who's trying to recover from sickness," Leu said.
The tsunami has drawn in members of the extended Tufts community. Hana Makirim (LA '00), an investment manager in Jakarta, said that soon after the disaster she found herself at the hub of the organization of relief efforts.
She soon began working with a local NGO, helping to coordinate volunteers. The beginning stages of the relief effort, she said, were characterized by "inefficiencies resulting from a lack of coordination" in an "anarchy of goodwill."
As a local, she used her contacts to help match volunteers to organizations. Ultimately, however, with more and more aid flowing into the region, she began to focus on the long-term.
"The reconstruction and rehabilitation of livelihoods will be a process that will take years," she said, "so our biggest challenge now is to keep people interested and concerned, when media cameras turn elsewhere."
In this vein, Makirim founded a new organization called Young People Care, which is "a movement aimed at increasing awareness among youth and involving them in long-term fundraising," especially in efforts focusing on helping children, she said.
While there is difficulty in coordinating people not physically affected by the disaster, Makirim said, Tufts is a near-ideal environment to organize something that may accomplish just that because of its international focus and open-mindedness.
"It is one thing to individually donate to charities, which is incredible in and of itself," she said, "but to be able to create an event that creates international solidarity could be more edifying for those wishing to be more actively engaged."
Leu agrees, pointing out that such projects as the 1,000 paper cranes show that "the Fund is trying to show its support in more ways than just the obvious monetary one."
Indeed, although Aroonvatanaporn says that a goal of the Fund is to raise $10,000, "equally important to the actual amount of donation itself is how we come together as a community and devote our highest level of dedication and support to the tsunami victims."
