In Reply to: Good idea posted by Freogirl on Saturday, 31. March 2007 at 10:01 Bali Time:
6 million is not "quite a lot" for an operation in Bali, depending on what the operation is. Hospital & operation costs can be very high and people are borrowing money all the time to cover these costs. When they can they usually borrow the money from family or the local village bank.
The oncologist would have no business talking to anyone other than his patient and her husband about her condition due to confidentiality issues.And even if you are financing the treatment you don't have the right to violate that confidentiality.
If any of you doubt the sincerity of your "friends" who ask you for money then don't give it to them - it's very simple.
Every time I see one of these posts on here I sit here grinding my teeth, wanting to respond but not quite being able to put it into words.
You (collective you)are befriending people who are very different to you. They have less education, less money, different values etc. You come along and start giving them gifts, sometimes quite valuable ones....what do you think they are going to think?? They think you are wealthy. They see you here on holiday spending large amounts of money. They don't understand that you have saved for however long for your trip and that you may live an ordinary life in your own country. You can't blame them for asking for help and it is insulting to question their sincerity and talk about checking up on them etc. You call them your "friends" but you treat them like your own personal welfare project and then get offended when they ask for more than you are prepared to give.
I am not intending to offend anyone here, just sharing my feelings/perspective from living here for the last 20 years.