Posted on 02/18/2005 6:57:50 AM PST by nypokerface
ATHENS (Reuters) - A Greek church charity sent boxes of "inappropriate" aid to victims of the December tsunami in Sri Lanka, including fur coats and carnival wigs, Doctors of the World, the organisation that helped unload the shipment has said.
The aid, more than 600 tonnes, was collected in Greece by the Orthodox Church's charity organisation Solidarity and shipped to Sri Lanka using a cruise ship. The operation was coordinated by the Greek Foreign Ministry.
"We had a staff of eight on the ship travelling to Sri Lanka. When they arrived and started opening boxes containing the aid they were shocked and angered," said Elli Xenou, Doctors of the World director of foreign missions.
"There were boxes containing fur coats, carnival wigs and underwear thongs which were completely inappropriate," she told Reuters.
The Foreign Ministry said it was investigating the issue, which caused outrage in Greek media. The ministry planned to issue a statement.
The Indian Ocean tidal wave triggered an unprecedented outpouring of sympathy and aid from Greece which ranked as the fourth biggest contributor of aid in the European Union.
It was not clear how much of the 600 tonnes could not be used but Xenou said it was a lot.
"There was a considerable amount of stuff that should definitely not have been there. Even if just one box could not be used it is unacceptable."
Solidarity Director Dimitris Fourlemadis said there could have been some boxes containing suspect clothing but said the figure was very small.
"We sent 26,919 packages. Even if there were two, 10 or 100 boxes with some other stuff inside, it is a very small number and not worth mentioning," he told Reuters.
Up to 300,000 people in several countries and island states died in the December 26 tsunami that followed an undersea quake off Aceh province on the northwestern tip of Indonesia -- the area worst hit in the disaster.
All right, fess up.
This is one strange story. Must have been stuff left over from the Clinton era....
Just another way to drive home their talking point that "we don't want your stuff, we just want your cash."
Wow someone doesn't have any imagination. You can auction them off on ebay and there's your charity money.
Strange
old story, Greeks bearing gifts
All that destruction and nobody lost fur coats, wigs or underwear?
Just asking.
Yeah, you have to wonder at the individuals who heard about making donations to tsunami victims and thought, "Oh, I have a big wig and fur coat that would be perfect for someone in Southeast Asia who has lost everything!" You also have to wonder at the organizers--did they not notice that these unhelpful things were being donated in such numbers? Couldn't they have sold the stuff and not wasted time and money shipping it off? Weird all around.
thongs for the tsunami victims?.. and wigs? HAHAHAHA
Why not makes the best of a bad situation? LOL!
Sorry to make light of it, but THONGS? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
Bones
Wasn't this a WKRP episode?
What the heck kind of church is this? The Orthodox Holy Church of United Rich Kinky Clowns? Good grief....
ebay, too funny
And to think, we could have sent them our nuclear waste and now there'd be no need for Yucca Mountain.
I was going to suggest that it was probably a bunch of enviro-nazi lefties worried about 'the land fills filling up' so they shipped their crap off to the Sri Lanka. After all, the right has been giving the left crap for a long time for not giving to charity....
It was the best way to get rid of some old junk -- and get a tax credit as well.
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