By AARTI wa NJOROGE

One of sport's most exhilarating made-for-television moments came in the final strides of the men’s 10,000 metres race in the Sydney Olympics. Virtually the entire Nairobi Reuters office, including me, came to a standstill in order to watch Haile Gebrselassie propel himself forward, as if pushed by an invisible force, and steal the gold medal from Paul Tergat's fingertips. Prose cannot describe such a poetic instant.

At this year's London marathon, though, Kenya scored a double whammy on a Sunday morning that was still confused as to whether spring had propelled forward and taken over from winter. Athletes are becoming slicker in front of the media, which made Margaret Okayo's very Kenyan BBC interview (thanking the organisers and so on) and Evans Rutto calling the temperature "freezing" all the more amusing. And Rutto’s performance had the BBC commentators excited about whether he had secured a place on this year's Kenyan Olympic team, even addressing Kipchoge Keino by name.

Our friend Marianne, a mother of three, having allegedly reached her mid-life crisis, took part as one of the tens of thousands of participants who run for charity. It is estimated that over £200 million has been raised since the London marathon started in 1981. The British (and Irish, as one must include Bob Geldof and Bono) are particularly proficient at staging challenging events to raise funds and arouse consciences, from annual marathons to occasional concerts such as Live Aid.

Here in the Netherlands, taxes are supposedly seen to displace the need for philanthropy (the term Americans favour) or charity (the more politically correct British version). One colleague told me that "we look after everybody" when I first arrived here, not without pride, but not as if I should be surprised. Maybe I had mentioned to her that, compared with London, there seemed to be fewer beggars and homeless people.

So, it was not out of character when two other Dutch colleagues showed their indignation at our company's plans for a so-called Community Events week. They ridiculed the fact that some employees are choosing to plant trees or paint schools while their colleagues are facing pay freezes or even redundancy. While many other offices round the world will be participating, the Dutch resolutely will not. One of these colleagues is irritated that while the British do not want to pay tax, they donate willingly to charity. Actually, Britain gives less than 1 per cent of its GDP to charity, whereas the Netherlands gives more.

The British charity versus Dutch tax case is reflected in the wider social differences between the two neighbours. There is no direct equivalent to the ubiquitous British class system, and how it manifests itself. Sure, the richer have bigger boats and more choice of ski resorts. The Dutch have a monarchy, but one that is seen to be more in touch with normal people than its British counterpart. Ultimately there is a certain discretion, even puritanism, over wealth. Foreign aid is also subtle. Tony Blair is already touting his Africa Commission for when Britain takes over the chair of the G8 and holds the European Union presidency in 2005, but few people are aware that the Dutch, due to preside over the European Union in the second half of this year, have also put Africa on the agenda.

Both the Dutch and the British spend money on the lottery, a "tax on the stupid" as someone once labelled it. The Dutch National Lottery (Staatsloterij) may claim to be the oldest in the world, having started in 1726, but the UK National Lottery, now in its 10th year, quickly became the biggest in the world, despite the contention over certain charities that are allocated a certain percentage of the funds.

On the corporate side, ING Group serves only fair trade coffee to its 34,000 employees – and their visitors – in the Netherlands. And outgoing chairman Ewald Kist has ensured ING are now sponsoring the Amsterdam and New York (Margaret Okayo's other turf) marathons. Looking at the Amsterdam marathon website, there is no mention of charity. Maybe they should encourage more "elite" runners like Haile Gebrselassie who put their winnings to good use back home – since, let's face it, most of them come from low-income countries anyway. Then it would get round the altruism problem, wouldn't it?
 

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