Feature: NGO helps translate empathy into action for disaster risk reduction

The world is connected and there is a need to operate as a global family, said Sally L. Begbie, founder of a non-profit organization based in Hong Kong.

In a recent interview with Xinhua on the sidelines of the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, Sally said "We can 't just look at our own backyard".

When Sally, a public relations consultant and her husband Malcolm B. Begbie, a chartered accountant, founded the Crossroads Foundation in 1995 to help people in Northern China following a tremendous flood, they never thought their charitable organization would grow as it has, with 75 full-time staff and over 9,000 part- time volunteers offering their services free of charge.

"It was an accident. We never set out to create an NGO. We honestly thought the world had enough worthy causes already. But when Crossroads began, we couldn't stop it and here we are today", said Malcolm.

Up to now, Crossroads has sent aid to more than 100 countries in Africa, central Asia, Latin America and Europe. The organization is now helping translate empathy into action by creating "global-X experience", including simulations of war, HIV/ AIDS epidemics, blindness outbreaks, droughts, hunger, and poverty.

On their 10th anniversary, instead of holding a big party at which everybody would enjoy themselves, they invited Hong Kong business leaders to take a pile of rubbish, build themselves a slum home and spend the next 24 hours in simulated poverty.

What drove them to do such a simulation is the numerous encounters with the poor people around the globe, like Syrian refugees who see rape,torture,beheadings and so many other terrifying things. The Begbies hope the experiences will help the participants better understand the people in need and thus take action to help them.

They planned to do the simulation only once, but people asked them to do more of these. "We have had the head of Skype, the head of Wikipedia, the head of HP, the head of TNT and we have seen over 130,000 people go through those experiences," said David J. Begbie, son of the couple, who joined his parents' cause right after graduating from college.

Having spent seven years in the Philippines as a child with his parents, David said he had seen so many poor people during his childhood. "It's so unfair that I have food to eat and books to read, while those people have nothing. I thought at that time what I could do to help them".

When asked whether he regards his job now as his responsibility and duty to help his parents, David said that's not his goal. "If my parents weren't to do it, I'd continue regardless. For me,what we do is not important, helping those who are in need is the most important," David said.

Having worked with hundreds of NGOs around the globe, Richard Choularton, chief of Climate and Disaster Risk Reduction under the World Food Program (WFP) said that what really makes the biggest difference is when the communities themselves are leading efforts to reduce disaster risks. "Non-governmental organizations in civil societies taking the lead is so important if we are going to make progress. It's also really significant to see civil society here in Sendai voicing the importance of disaster risk reduction, because the communities and non-governmental organizations really better than anyone understand the need," said Choularton. "They are from the communities and work at the community level. They can really articulate how important it is to invest in disaster risk reduction," he concluded. Endi