Generous spirits: in a less-than-perfect international aid system, there are some shining lights.

Many experts agree that the system for dispensing international aid has a lot of flaws. Huge amounts of money go to developing countries, but some of it doesn't make it to the intended recipients, and there are too many starving and sick people in the world. Simply giving the hungry food isn't enough, although it's essential in the many crises that hit the desperately poor; what they need is help in building their own food sources, their own economic prosperity. They need tools as well as money, and they need more generous trading partners in the world's developed nations.

But, amidst all this complexity, are thousands of generous people who give much of their rives to help ease the suffering of others. Members of Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) are among these volunteers. MSF is an international humanitarian aid organization that has been setting up emergency medical aid programs around the world since 1971. It provides assistance to people in danger in more than 80 countries, travelling to places, many people have never heard of to help victims of natural and man-made disasters, risking their own safety and health. The organization also works in the rehabilitation of hospitals and dispensaries, vaccination programs, and water and sanitation projects.

One of MSF's most recent ventures is the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi), a not-for-profit drug research organization that will develop medicines for diseases afflicting the world's poorest people. Established in July 2003, DNDi combines the expertise of health and research institutes from Brazil, France, India, Kenya, and Malaysia with MSF workers.

Doctors for Global Health (DGH) is another private, not-for-profit organization promoting health, education, art, and other human rights throughout the world. Since its founding in 1995, DGH has attracted more than 500 active supporters, including doctors and other health care workers, students, educators, attorneys, and engineers. Most of these volunteers work within their own communities, while others have also spent from a week to over a year working in El Salvador, Honduras, Chiapas (Mexico), Peru, Uganda and/or other countries.

Teachers Without Borders, which started in 2000, now has teachers and volunteers working in 84 mostly developing countries around the world. TWB is an international non-profit organization, focussing on teacher professional development and community education. It also provides school supplies, computers, and in some cases has opened schools at refugee camps where children sometimes have not attended school for months, or years. Without well-trained, and well-equipped teachers, TWB says "... we are left with poverty, lack of development, and a gaping digital, educational, and economic divide."

Websites

Reporters Without Borders www.rsf.org

Engineers Without Borders www.ewb-isf.org/

Teachers Without Borders www.teacherswithout borders.org/

Doctors Without Borders www.doctorswithout borders.org/

Doctors for Global Health www.dghonline.org/