抗擊埃博拉 慈善機構動作遲緩

When Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and his wife, Priscilla Chan, donated $25 million last week to support the treatment of Ebola victims and their families, they gave the gift to the foundation that funnels private donations to the Centers for Disease Control, not one of the nonprofit groups that Americans typically shower with money during a humanitarian crisis.

上週，Facebook的馬克·扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)和妻子普莉希拉·陳(Priscilla Chan)捐贈了2500萬美元（約合人民幣1.53億元），用於幫助埃博拉患者及家屬。他們把錢交給了一個負責把私人捐款轉給疾病控制中心(Centers for Disease Control)的基金會，而不是交給非營利組織；通常情況下，在發生人道主義危機時，美國人會紛紛向非營利組織捐款。

Compared to the rush to donate after major disasters of the last decade or so, charitable giving to address the Ebola tragedy is almost nonexistent, and the relief agencies that typically seek donations after a catastrophe are mostly silent. “Have you had any email solicitations?” asked Patrick M. Rooney, associate dean at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. “If there had been an earthquake or tsunami, my question would be who had solicited you and how many times? Americans aren’t giving because they haven’t really been asked.”

相較於過去約十年來，大災難發生後的捐款狀況而言，用於救助埃博拉疫情的慈善捐贈約等於無，通常會積極尋求捐贈的救援機構，本次可以說是沒有動靜。“你收到過募捐電郵嗎？”印第安納大學禮來家族慈善學院(Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy)副院長帕特里克·M.魯尼(Patrick M. Rooney)問道。“如果發生了地震或海嘯，我的問題就會是，誰向你募捐過，有多少次？美國人沒有在捐款，因爲還沒有人真正向他們募捐。”

Ever since terrorists took down the World Trade Center in 2001, Americans have generously supported the organizations that swing into action after earthquakes, floods, cyclones, mudslides and other disasters. Propelled by the Internet and cellphones, which make giving as easy as clicking a button, Americans donated billions of dollars to help victims of the 2004 tsunami that devastated countries around the Indian Ocean, the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan, and the 2010 Haitian earthquake, among other calamities.

自從恐怖分子2001年撞擊世貿中心以來，每當有地震、洪水、龍捲風、泥石流等災害發生，美國人就會慷慨解囊，支持採取應對行動的組織。使用互聯網和手機，捐款變得非常輕鬆，只需要點擊一個按鈕。有了這樣的方便條件，美國人爲2004年摧毀印度洋周邊地區的海嘯，2011年日本發生的海嘯和核災，2010年海地發生的地震，以及其他災難，捐贈了數以十億計的美元。

But the Ebola crisis is different, charity officials and experts say, though it is hard to say exactly why. Perhaps it lacks the visual drama of a natural disaster. Or it is harder for people to understand what their money can do to fight a disease with such a high mortality rate and no sure treatment. It is not even clear that providing food, housing and protective equipment will have any impact — or how those things will get where they are most needed.

但這次埃博拉危機的捐贈情況不一樣，慈善官員和專家說，儘管很難準確說出爲什麼會出現這種不同，也許它沒有自然災害那種視覺衝擊力。或者是因爲，人們比較難理解自己的錢可以派上什麼用場，因爲這種疾病的死亡率非常高，而且沒有確切的治療方法。人們甚至不是很清楚，提供食物、住房和防護裝備有沒有作用——以及這些東西怎樣抵達最需要它們的地方。

“It’s just been more difficult to raise money around this,” said David Whalen, chief development officer at Partners in Health, founded by the physician Paul Farmer to help bolster health care in poor regions.

“爲這件事籌錢，反正就是更加困難一些，”健康夥伴(Partners in Health)組織的首席開發官大衛·惠倫(David Whalen)說。該組織由醫師保羅·法默(Paul Farmer)創建，宗旨是幫助提高貧困地區的醫療水平。

In addition, charities initially had small operations — or none at all — in the stricken region for which to raise money, and there was hope that the outbreak would be contained.

此外，慈善機構最初在受災地區開展的行動規模很小，或根本就沒有進入那些地區，而且當時人們感覺埃博拉疫情的爆發有望得到遏制。現在，資金就是爲這些地區籌集的。

Médecins Sans Frontières, known in the United States as Doctors Without Borders, was on the ground at that time, working to fight the disease. But the organization saw no uptick in fund-raising until late July, said Thomas Kurmann, director of development for the United States branch.

國際醫療組織無國界醫生(Doctors Without Borders)，即Médecins Sans Frontières，當時在受災地區抗擊這種疾病。但直到7月下旬，該組織獲得的捐款纔多了起來，美國分會的發展主任托馬斯·庫曼(Thomas Kurmann)說。

“The real spike came in September,” Mr. Kurmann said, when representatives of the organization addressed the United Nations. “There was a lot of media coverage and that translates into additional donations.”

“真正的激增出現在9月，”庫曼說，當時該組織的代表在聯合國發表了演講。“有很多媒體報道，因此吸引了更多捐款。”

Doctors Without Borders asks donors not to earmark their contributions for a specific emergency because it wants to be able to deploy its money where it is most needed. But it does not reject earmarked gifts. So far, it has received about $31.5 million in private donations designated for the Ebola crisis, about $7.3 million from United States donors, Mr. Kurmann said.

無國界醫生組織呼籲，捐助者不要把自己的捐贈設定爲特定緊急情況的專項捐贈，以便該組織能把錢用在最需要的地方。不過，它也並不排斥專項捐贈。到目前爲止，該組織已收到約3150萬美元指定用於埃博拉危機的私人捐款，其中大約730萬美元是美國人捐贈的，庫曼說。

The International Medical Corps already has some 200 medical employees working in a 70-bed Ebola treatment center in Bong County, about 120 miles outside Monrovia, Liberia, and is working to construct and open a 50-bed center in Sierra Leone.

在利比里亞蒙羅維亞約120英里外的邦縣，有一個70張牀位的埃博拉治療中心，國際醫療隊(International Medical Corps)已經有大約200名醫護人員在那裏工作。該組織正在在塞拉利昂施工，準備開設一個50張牀位的治療中心。

The Medical Corps started quietly fund-raising — there are no photos of its Ebola-related activities on its home page — in late July. “It was slow going at first,” said Rebecca Milner, chief fund-raiser for the organization. “I think the pivotal moment was when the missionaries were brought back to the U.S. We’ve seen the interest and concern increasing since then.”

7月下旬，國際醫療隊開始默默籌款——在其主頁上，沒有和埃博拉有關的活動的任何照片。“一開始比較慢，”該組織的首席籌款人麗貝卡·米爾納(Rebecca Milner)說。“我覺得，拐點出現在那些傳教士被帶回美國的時候，之後，越來越多的捐助者對此表示了興趣和關注。”

She said the slow pace of fund-raising reminded her of efforts to raise money for famines. “You really have to beat the drums and hope the media gets there to shine a spotlight on the issues,” Ms. Milner said.

她說，這種緩慢的籌款步伐，讓她想起爲饑荒籌集資金的時候。“你真的必須敲鑼打鼓，希望把媒體吸引到那裏，以便突顯問題的嚴重性，”米爾納說。

The group has raised about $2.5 million in cash and in-kind contributions so far — and it would rather have the cash than donations of equipment. It needs only very specific types of “personal protective equipment” — the gloves, hoods, jumpsuits and other gear health care workers need to protect themselves.

迄今爲止，該組織收到了250萬美元的現金和實物捐助——相比於裝備，它更願意接受現金。抗擊埃博拉需要的“個人防護裝備”類型非常具體——手套、頭套、連衣褲，以及醫護人員用來保護自己的其他裝備。

Getting a variety of different types of suits and gloves and goggles greatly complicates the training process, Ms. Milner said. “Your life literally depends on knowing the exact right way to put the gear on and the exact right way to take it off, and we can’t train for a variety of different equipment,” she said.

米爾納說，收到各種不同類型的套衫、手套和護目鏡，讓培訓過程變得非常複雜。“知道如何以正確的方式穿戴這些裝備，以及如何以正確的方式把它們脫下來，這是性命攸關的大事，我們沒法針對每種裝備開展培訓，”她說。

Direct Relief, which collects and distributes medicines and supplies to health care workers on the front lines, like those at Last Mile Health in Liberia, got “masses of gloves,” according to Thomas Tighe, its chief executive.

慈善組織國際直接救濟(Direct Relief)收集藥品和物資，並把它們分發給一線醫護人員，比如利比里亞“最後一里醫療”組織(Last Mile Health)的醫護人員。國際直接救濟的首席執行官托馬斯·泰伊(Thomas Tighe)說，他們收到了“大量手套”。

When it went to charter a 747 airplane to ferry supplies to Monrovia, Direct Relief had raised just $100,000 that was earmarked for Ebola relief. “I kept wondering if we would get an overdraft charge from the bank,” Mr. Tighe said.

在包了一架747飛機，把物資運到蒙羅維亞的時候，國際直接救濟獲得的專門用於埃博拉援救工作的捐款只有10萬美元。“我一直在想，銀行是否會向我們收取透支費，”泰伊說。