Friday, May 9, 2008

An organization with a difference!

The other day while watching the CNN-IBN news channel, I came across a feature covering an NGO in Surat, Gujarat. In a second I was about to dismiss the news as ‘just another organization’ and flip to another channel but something made me stay.

The NGO was working with street beggars. They roped in the beggars and made them work on tasks like vegetable farming. The beggars were paid a nominal amount daily for working in the farm and at the end of the cycle; they were to sell their produce in the market.

The profits made after selling such products were shared equally among the group. I liked the novel idea where the NGO just did not ask for donations, nor was there any ‘pity’ or ‘sorrow’ in their effort. They were empowering these people, many of whom had turned to begging after finding no other way to earn a living. The NGO didn’t make the beggars feel helpless or give them a gloomy picture. This was more of an effort to bestow on them their self-esteem and guide them to help themselves.

This concept has supported beggars who were actually interested in making a difference to their life and were not sure how to go about it. This is not something that I said though; it was from a transformed beggar himself!

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