MONSIEUR JEANETTE / Christio Wijnhard
Our zoo needs to be saved. That was the call that one of the sons of the late President Bouterse made on the radio. His passionate appeal was not for me. I think zoos are an outdated and especially colonial concept. It would have been better if attention had been paid to the reason why our zoo was created.
It was a shelter for injured animals. The fact that people could visit them was a nice bonus at the time. Save the zoo? No, not the concept as it stands now. Transform our zoo? Of course! Let’s use technology to make it a truly educational concept. Without animals in cages that are far too small and stare disconsolately ahead. As if they are criminals who have to serve a sentence.
But the former ‘first son’ said something else in his story that is much more interesting. He called on companies to adopt the zoo. I have heard that idea of adoption before. Unfortunately, too little. I think the biggest goal of companies’profit maxing’ is. Profit maximization. This benefits the owner and possibly a handful of shareholders. No one else.
Rather, it disadvantages the rest of the people. Also employees of such a company. Profit maximization limits more dignified and realistic compensation for labor. And also the way in which companies take their social responsibility. They see it as a favor when it is a duty. Precisely because of the way in which money is withdrawn from society. People can do more to give back to society.
A good example of how annoying this is happened to me in the hospital. I was there for a consultation. The attending physician jokingly asked if I had thirty-four thousand euros lying around somewhere. Why? Then he could use new equipment. After a little further questioning, it turned out that the equipment had been donated by a company that often paints toilets in schools and asks for and receives extensive press attention for this. We close our eyes to the fact that the school is further in tatters. It’s nice that you can relieve yourself in a beautifully painted toilet, but if the further learning environment is not stimulating, what have you actually done? Literally only painted the toilets. No, we are not hiding behind that gift horse that should not be looked in the mouth.
The company had therefore donated the equipment to the hospital but had not included the maintenance contract. Now there will be all kinds of rules that the company itself believes in and why the maintenance contract has not been added. The reality, however, is that the hospital is now saddled with equipment that cannot be used. And with an additional cost. While it is already in the red. What have you done as a donor? Ensuring that people can look at beautiful new equipment. Until the maintenance contract is arranged. Companies have the same rules regarding their profit maximization. It seems to me that we will get that money together when the equipment is outdated. So these types of donations don’t work. That’s why I think adopting a service or concept is better. This will benefit elderly care. The children’s homes are the same. And also healthcare in general. That profit for the giver? It will only be slightly less.
