FIELD REPORT
“Here’s your application for joining the Newspaper club. This is just for the sake of formality. You can consider yourself to be a part of this club already. ” The bespectacled girl said.
“Thank you.” I continued, “Is there any chance that I can already conduct research for an article?”
“Surely. But you can only submit your article after your application is signed by the head of the club.”
The girl took out a card from one of the drawers in the library, where we were currently, and presented it to me. “This card will work for your identification as a member of the Newspaper club. Just make sure to not interview psychopaths or visit mental asylums for a field report.”
I thanked the girl and left.
The reason I joined the Newspaper club out of the blue was for this very card. It is a free entry pass into most of the institutions. It would allow me to go to the Harmony Foundation charitable trust office, walk around the place and learn about their connection with William Miller. Even if they wanted to keep their connections with an extremely dangerous gang a secret, no one could possibly suspect a cute girl with a Newspaper club’s ID, looking around the place to uncover it, right?
All I have to do for this to work is take a pen and book with me and note down the replies for the questions I ask. I just need to pretend like I am interested in writing an article about the charity and no one will know a thing.
And that is precisely what I decided to do today. Although Steve insisted on going on a date as it had been a long time since the last one, I canceled it and got on the local subway and made my way to Sedarust, Willbruk district. Although it was in a neighboring district, our two towns were so close, it only took me a 45 minute journey to arrive at the gates of the Harmony Foundation.
After which I presented the receptionist with my school ID and the Newspaper club ID and my audience with the charity’s founder was arranged immediately.
The founder was a middle aged man, possibly in his 50s. His frail figure dressed in all white carried a remarkable aura to it, one of calmness and peace.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
We both sat in one of the empty rooms of the foundation and began our conversation.
“What is your name, young lady?” The old man asked.
“I am Annabelle, sir.” I replied diligently .
“Nice to meet you Annabelle. I am Henry Mitchell.”
“Nice to meet you too, sir.” I continued. “Sir, I have read through many of your interviews that were published in well reputed newspapers and articles about your generosity towards the poor and unfortunate. But not in any of those interviews have you talked about what led you to start the ‘Harmony Foundation’. Can we talk about it?”
His face began to take a sour expression. He seemed to contemplate things for a while, and then began to speak, “I was a victim of poverty, slavery and physical abuse for several years. There were times when I had nothing to eat. There were times when I had no badges to cover my wounds with. But those seemed like petty things. What made me stay up at night was that there was no one I could trust. There was no one I could ask for help. After I was liberated from those hard times, I began to think, ‘when I needed help, there was no one. But now, I could be the one to help such people.’”
Henry continued to narrate about how he was inspired by several philosophers and their ways of making the world a better place.
This wasn’t the answer I was looking for though. What I needed was his past. I needed him to tell me everything, so that I could learn his connection with William Miller and the Gain Gang. Then again, Henry didn’t know about my objectives so it made sense for him to give me an altruistic speech.
“Interesting. You did mention that in the past you were a victim of slavery and poverty. How is it that you managed to establish such a wealthy charity?”
Henry’s face visibly contoured and the distaste I sensed his voice meant that I was getting closer to the answers I needed. “The foundation has been around for more than a decade now. We learnt to manage our monetary resources to both help the unfortunate and grow it to thrive as a charity. You also need to realize that although I am the founder of this foundation, I am not the only one who has contributed to this institution.”
Nice dodge, I must say.
“What is your message to wealthy families?” I asked.
“Share what you have. God has given you enough to feed yourself and others. Remind yourself that when you say family, it isn’t just the people who live under one roof, it is all the population of the world.”
“Do you know of any people that have been inspired by the good deeds carried out by this foundation and reached out to contribute?”
“Yes! Several such people have! I pray to the lord that we have more people like them.”
Finding an opportunity, I decided to cease it and steer the conversation. “I have a friend who is quite wealthy herself and wants to help others. Unfortunately, she is quite skeptical about the ways in which the foundation spends the donated money. Because there have been multiple cases where the contributors themselves have accused the Harmony Foundation of misusing the funds they provided, like transferring the money to people who do not have the necessity of money. What do you have to say to people like them?”
“This is a recurring question most of the contributors ask. The problem is, in this day and age, with all the corruption spreading around it has become hard for people to trust one another. We could show a breakdown of all the things we do with their donation, but then we would be missing the bigger picture. It is with trust that one needs to contribute. If they have doubts about the charity itself, they shouldn’t be contributing at all.”
Hm, not the answer I expected. And a useless one too.
“Thank you for your time and effort, sir.”. I got off my seat and began walking out of the room, when suddenly I turned around and said, “By any chance, do you know William Miller?”
“No.”