Should Oxfam lose its government funding?

WHAT happened in Haiti was wrong, but let’s put it in perspective. Seven workers let down the charity, the people of Haiti and those who employed them. And now the Government seems to think Oxfam is not worthy of a contribution from the foreign aid budget, though thousands of people are being helped. Seems like another bandwagon for everyone to jump on.

R. A. LARKIN, Wadhurst, E. Sussex.

FROM an early age I have given to charity and trusted Oxfam as one of the best. My giving will stop today.

MARY WILLIAMS, Liverpool.

I DO not understand the outcry about the Oxfam workers. Maybe I am naive, but these people are working in heartbreaking circumstances and are away from home, family and comforts for an extended time. Surely seeking out

local prostitutes does not constitute abuse. It might not be what we want to hear, but it is life. It will not affect my modest donations to deserving causes.

DINAH PORTER, Sellindge, Kent.

THE Government has no mandate to spend £13.5 billion each year on foreign aid. Some of this money is siphoned off through fraud or wasted on worthless projects. The Oxfam workers abused the very people they were meant to protect. Stop this nonsense now and divert the money to saving our NHS.

D. NISBET, Whickham, Tyne & Wear.

BECAUSE of Oxfam’s problems with some irresponsible individuals, Dominic Lawson advocates scrapping all aid programmes. Apart from emergency actions to save lives, programmes have long-term aims of helping poor countries to improve healthcare

and education, become selfsufficient and compete in world markets. Having worked as a senior consultant in Nigeria, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Tunisia and Egypt, I believe our aid programme contributes more to peace than military spending. And spending is only now meeting a commitment made to the UN in 1970.

M. WILLIAMS, Huddersfield, W. Yorks.

THE trouble with charities is that they are no longer run by retired brigadiers and elderly ladies in market towns, but by politically correct appointees and those who don’t believe normal standards of behaviour apply to them.

TED SHORTER, Tonbridge, Kent.

IF THE Government withdraws its funding from Oxfam, who will really suffer? The people who really need our help.

JACK CARTER, Exeter.