My telephone conversation with the Watchtower Society, was a sincere attempt to find out what active role the Watchtower is taking to help the Tsunami Victims.
Thursday Dec. 30, 2004 / Approx. 9:23am
Watchtower Call on Tsunami Disaster.
1-718-560-5000
Wt-recording--Thank you for calling Jehovah's Witnesses.
WT rep--Jehovah's Witnesses, may I help you?
Me--Good morning, I was wondering if you could provide me with some information about sending in donations for the Tsunami victims. You have a disaster relief program don't you?
WT rep--Sure, let me give you the latest information that we have. As of Monday the reports are: India, Malaysia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand report that there was no great loss of life among the local brothers. Sadly in Thailand (2) brothers who were vacationing were known to have been killed. There have been of course loss of homes, personal possessions, and Kingdom Halls have damage. We are asking that if individuals would like to donate to the relief work, if they would please donate to the (Watchtower Worldwide Work), and it will be distributed from there.
Me--And can you tell me what active role the witnesses are taking now? Are they shipping in truck loads of goods, clothes, food, etc?
WT rep--They have not given us the specifics of that, but any funds that are put into the (Watchtower Worldwide Work), they expect of course us to contact the branch office there and they are fulfilling the needs that they expect.
Me--OK, and how about airplanes, doesn't the Watchtower have some airplanes that can ship boxes of goods to the people in those areas?
WT rep--Are you specifically interested yourself in shipping goods?
Me--I was specifically interested in donating cash, and was wondering how quickly it might get to those who are in need the most? And what avenues the witnesses are taking? Are they flying materials in?
WT rep--We don't have, I mean, I personally do not have the specifics on that, but I can connect you to another department that may have that kind of infornation.
Me-I sure would appreciate it.
WT rep--Sure!
Phone rings another Watchtower department.
WT rep--Administration! May I help you?
Me--Good morning, how are you Sir?
WT rep--Iam fine how are you?
Me--Not to bad, I hope your having good weather up there!
WT rep--Yes, fine.
Me--I was speaking with the lady a moment ago who transferred my call to you, and was asking some questions about the disaster relief efforts, and on information about making a donation for the Tsunami victims. She said she did not have any specifics, so she transferred me to you, and I was wondering, are you all flying in goods? I mean, do you have an airplane to fly in goods for the victims?
Administration rep--No. What we do is, we have a branch office there, in fact in the 6 countries affected, we have branches.
Me--So none of the branches were washed away?
Administration rep--No. Actually it only basically affected the coastline. We have allocated funds for branch offices to help.
Me--I see, I see.
Administration rep--So as far as Jehovah's Witnesses are concerned, it was very limited damage to homes and Kingdom Halls. Ah, we have a larger number of Jehovah's Witnesses killed because of vacationing. Some of the islands that were hit the worst, were vacationing islands.
Me--Do you know how many Jehovah's Witnesses total have died?
Administration rep--That's part of the problem, we are only just now trying to figure out who was even there.
Me--I understand.
Administration rep--Most people don't normally, I mean, most people that usually go on vacation are with their family, and are not usually by themselves, or at least they leave word with family members where they will be going on vacation.
Me--So you probably won't know how many witnesses have died until more information has been provided?
Administration rep--Exactly, actually right now we know of (2) known Jehovah's Witnesses that were killed, washed away, and (2) others who we are not sure if they were witnesses or that it was their wives that were witnesses. They were vacationing in Sri Lanka. Other than that, it was basically damage to homes and the people that were effected in the areas effected the most.
Me--How about trucks? Are they allowing you to truck goods to these areas?
Administration rep--As far as that goes, all I can tell you is what we have heard from U.S. News, and that is an issue of getting food and clothing to these areas. It could take several months/ can you hold on for a moment?
Me--Sure.
Administration rep comes back on phone.
Administration rep--Sorry about that.
Me--No problem.
Administration rep--So the problem their facing is that there are a lot of disaster relief organizations and good hearted folks collecting food and things of that nature, but they can't get it over there, and right now they are saying it can actually take months for it to be received. So the greater need is funds so they can purchase locally the medicine and fresh water needed. We allocated funds for fresh water in the local area and other parts of the countries affected.
Me--Can you tell me how much money you have allocated for fresh water?
Administration rep--No, I don't know what the figure are. Each branch office in the local city or area allocate what is needed.
Me--Sounds like trucking will not be able to get in there for quite some time.
Administration rep--I think some organizations are flying items in and then trucking items to the nearest local areas.
Me--So if you don't have an airplane that would be able to fly relief items in there, would you be boxing items up and sending them by way of a United Nations airplane? Or an American Cargo Plane?
Administration rep--Actually I have no idea. From the reports we have in our office, they said to send funds to take care of what the needs are, in fact, what they are finding now is that those larger items are actually taking more time.
Me--Boxed items are slowing things up?
Administration rep--Well, its not so much that they are slowing things up, it's the fact that it is costing more money to fly these items. When well meaning people are trying to help, the relief would really get there faster if the needed items came from local areas that are closer to the affected areas. Its just that the items must be bought from local areas such as other parts of Thailand, or other areas that were not affected. The relief efforts are more successful if they have the funding to be able to purchase the water and other items from nearby countries and then some how move these items to the coast. The roads are washed away and getting these items to the areas is very difficult, and quite frankly, some of the areas no longer exist now.
Me--Yes, your right.
Administration rep--A couple of areas were totally washed away.
Me--Sounds as though they may have to use helicopters to get the relief items in some of those places.
Administration rep--Probably very much so. And remember, some of these areas were hard to get to in the first place, even before this disaster.
Me--Yes your right, what is left of them may not even be described as an island anymore.
Me--And do you know how many Kingdom Halls have been destroyed?
Administration rep--Actually none. It was reported that a couple had some water damage however. Some of those islands did not have Kingdom Halls there.
Me--OK, so I should write my check out to the branch office in that area? Or should I write it out to the Watchtower Society in New York?
Administration rep--Yes, you can do that. The check should be made out to say: (Watchtower), and the letter inside should say: (Work Relief Fund) or (Watchtower Worldwide Work).
Me--OK, well, thank you very much. I didn't mean to take up so much of your time.
Administration rep--That's quite alright, thank you for your generosity!
Me--Thanks, bye.
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My comments are:
I did find the Watchtower representatives very helpfull, and showed cheerful attitudes.
Both representatives seemed eager to help.
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However, there were some things that I believe anyone who had spoken to them would have asked. Here are some of the questions I would have asked:
1. Do I really want to donate my hard earned money to an organization, that will not even (identify) themselves on the phone, as to (whom) I am even speaking to? At (no) time was I ever given the name of (either) representative.
2. The first rep just told me to donate to the (Watchtower Worldwide Work). Yet the second rep I spoke to, indicated a differentiation between the Worldwide Work and writing a (letter) indicating the (Work Relief Fund). If I were in a hurry and sent in my donation and forgot to write this (letter) showing an intended different path for the donation to go to the Disaster Victims, rather than the Worldwide Work,---then would the Watchtower have kept my donation anyway? Would the Disaster Victims not receive my donation?
3. When I asked about items being shipped by an United Nations airplane, why was the answer: (Actually I have no idea)? Why wouldn't that answer have been a definate: NO?
4. Why were so many of the reps answers to my questions in the form of: (They don't give us those specifics---or They don't gives us that information)? Wasn't I plainly speaking to the Watchtower Society (Information) department--and the Watchtower Society Administration Department?
To many (unknowns) and (unanswered) questions, I truely believe would cause anyone to questio. Especially when it comes to having your donation used (for the purpose you intended) it to be used for.
As noted on this forum before, a Piper Navajo Type C, like the one the Watchtower (owns) can carry up to 1,500 pounds of goods. That's a lot of bandages, or other goods that could be flown over there right now, if the Watchtower really had the desire to do so!