By Nora Melara-Lopez
For centuries the Catholic Church financed by colonial governments and the private elite provided social support to the sick and the poor in Latin America. This support was paternalistic as it was combined with social control, forced evangelization, and the exploitation of indigenous peoples and African slaves (Sanborn & Portocarrero, 2003). In the 20th century, Read the rest of this entry >>
By Candice Stone
In India, it is customary to employ domestic help, whether it be cleaning and dusting the house, cooking meals, washing and ironing clothes, or washing automobiles on a daily basis. Such tasks, in the Western world are ordinarily performed by ordinary citizens; the concept of “domestic help” is either non-existent or constrained to the elite in society. However, Read the rest of this entry >>
By Rosario P. Blardony
The Philippines has a long tradition of giving and volunteering. The bayanihan spirit, a community acting together to help its members, best captures the essence of Filipino generosity. Pakikipagkapwa (a shared sense of humanity), pagtutulungan (mutual self-help), and kawanggawa (charity) are cultural traits that tend to underlie Filipino philanthropy. The Church is another significant driving force in reinforcing neighborliness and charitable giving.
Traditionally, philanthropic work in the country has been practiced within the family and kinship groups, and not through institutions. Read the rest of this entry >>
By Janet Tuenschel
As a young girl in India, my friend, Renuka would visit the bustling and poverty-stricken city of Haridwar with her father. They spent one busy and eye-opening week there each year. She remembers the shock of seeing hundreds, if not thousands, of people living within the impossibly small area of one city block. The purpose of her family’s visit: to feed as many of those people as they could. A local food preparation company made the food, while Renuka and her father stood in the streets feeding all who came. This generous yearly visit was based on the old Indian tradition of annadan.
Annadan, providing food or drink to those in need, Read the rest of this entry >>
By Roma Rashidi
Afghan Muslims are responsible for carrying out the duties and rituals commonly referred to as the five pillars of Islam. These include the recitation of the creed (shahdah), daily prayers (namaz), almsgiving (zakat), fasting (ruzah) and pilgrimage (hajj), (Sitar, 1969).
In this paper I will be focusing on the zakat system as practiced in Afghanistan. Zakat, or almsgiving, means donating a percentage of one’s wealth to the needy or poor. Currently, many institutions and organization are surviving solely on zakat money within Afghanistan. Schools and orphanages actively Read the rest of this entry >>
By Imad Alassaad
The instance of giving that I have chosen to discuss involves the Islamic religious holiday of Eid. Eid can be described as being the combination of Christmas and New Years, in the sense that, it celebrates the end of the lunar calendar and a month’s long fast (Ramadan). On this day, Muslims worldwide practice the art of philanthropy by offering monetary and nutritional gifts (trays of rice and meat) to related family members, friends and fellow community strangers that undergo the act of pan handling. Read the rest of this entry >>
By Nadine De Albuquerque
Throughout my childhood, family members would describe stories depicting their upbringing in East Africa; the difficult times, the government nationalization of personal property directed at particular ethnicities and the disparate situations they witnessed, always making a point to convey just how “lucky” I was. The importance of family and community support was a recurring theme to these tales. Read the rest of this entry >>
By Gifitii Kebede
In Ethiopia, an East African country, joining a Mahiber is one of the main aspects of social interaction people have with each other. The word Mahiber means ‘an association’. Mahiber is a traditional philanthropic organization with the purpose of forming a safety net for people. Often times, people who form Mahibers have common attributes like living in the same neighbourhood, or belonging to the same church. Read the rest of this entry >>
By D.
Being an Egyptian-Canadian Muslim affects how I identify myself and my practices and has a large influence on my views of philanthropy. Studying social work practice within a Canadian context, I can easily differentiate Western philanthropy with the type of philanthropy I learned in my up bringing.
In Egypt, Muslim’s traditionally celebrate a birth by an animal sacrifice. A week after the birth of the child, parents usually buy a goat or a sheep, have a religious sacrifice, then cook it. The way in which this traditional Read the rest of this entry >>
By Beau Tedesco
There are as many ways to mark and celebrate the arrival of a baby as there are cultures in the world, with each tradition striving to bring the newest little member of the community into the fold in a positive and loving manner. Here, we’ll examine the related custom of the Croatian Orthodox community as it has been practiced since the mid twentieth century. Read the rest of this entry >>