Members of the Salford community have said they will continue to visit and support Oxfam following its recent Haiti sex scandal.
Local members of the Salford community have today had their say on allegations that Oxfam concealed reports of staff members hiring prostitutes in Haiti in 2010.
Staff members of the charity were in Haiti to offer aid following the earthquake that killed 200,000 people.
In 2011 the Charity received €1.7m for their Haiti Programme.
The article published today in The Times about Haiti reveals totally unacceptable behavior. We are deeply distressed by what happened. We are doing all we can to protect vulnerable people in our communities, our staff, and to prevent sexual abuse & exploitation.
— Oxfam International (@Oxfam) February 9, 2018
“We are committed to our work and to Oxfam’s values. We will be honest, transparent, and accountable in addressing sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse.” https://t.co/UbZQbVeNQe
— Oxfam International (@Oxfam) February 12, 2018
Although some Salford people did say the recent reports have made them think twice about the charity, the majority said that it would not completely put them off supporting them and visiting one of their 650 UK shops.
One local man said: “The positives they bring far outweigh the negatives of a few individuals and those individuals if they are still in the company, it’s a bit shocking but hopefully they will amend that and resolve it.”
Some members of the community said that it would not be fair to punish the entire organisation for the actions of only some staff members.
One Salford man said: “It is only a small tiny amount of people out of a massive amount of people.”
Another Salford woman spoke about how the Charity does help a lot of people and we should not punish Oxfam as a whole.
She said: “The choices of a few don’t fully reflect the full organisation.”
A Twitter poll by Quays News has also shown that most local people are not less inclined to support the charity following the recent scandal.
Following the recent #oxfamscandal, are you currently less inclined to support the charity?
— Quays News (@QuaysNews) February 13, 2018
Oxfam has released a statement describing the behaviour of some members of their staff as ‘totally unacceptable’ and ‘contrary to our values and the high standards we expect of our staff’.
Last year Oxfam received £108m worth of donations and £91m in sales from their stores across the country.
Quays News contacted the Oxfam shop in Swinton for a comment but they declined to speak about the effect of the scandal on the shop.
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