Do something, anything – a recurring question, which, I’m sure, surfaces amongst many of us belonging to the ‘entitled’ generation. Of course, everyone brings in their fair share of bills to pay, families to take care of, loans to pay off – but, every once in a while, there’s some time when a little bit of guilt finds a way into our lives. A guilt, which is held at bay, probably by making a charitable donation, relenting to a beggar’s open palm, or adopting some other convenient mechanism. More often than not, such actions only beget a temporary reprieve.
Are you really sure you helped someone have a better time, if not a better life?
Help, can be a tough word to deal with. Where does one draw a line? Is it enough to ‘help’ someone delay the inevitable with a bit of money, is it enough to work actively for a week, a month, or a year with the disadvantaged, is it enough?
As you’ll find out, enough might be of no significant use or purpose to gauge the change you’ve brought about.
I was doing my job, happily leading my life full of benefits – some which I surely appreciated, some I wasn’t aware of. The guilt-trip would often surface within me as well, and during that time I’d witness a spurt in charitable intentions. Intentions, which might result in some donation or lead me to read on what’s going on in the UNESCO, Cry or some other socially driven organisation. Soon I’d get over the feeling and be back to normal. The cycle would repeat itself, and each time the gratification derived from my actions would seem to diminish. Discussing with my friends, I’d often encounter the word – Volunteer.
On one of the guilt-trips, I was listening to the radio when I heard about iVolunteer. The person online – Prarthana Unkalkar – seemed to be just the kind of person you’d like to listen to talking about everything with sublime optimism. There was a sense of hope in everything she said, and her message was simple – if you don’t try it, how would you know? – The core motivation for a volunteer. Besides, she also addressed another important topic about how everyone can help in his/her own way. You don’t really need to be an arts or social-works major to make a difference, you could just be yourself. And it might be that you try something which doesn’t work, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something else. The need was to be open to working with others to contribute your bit – when the time comes.
Prarthana guided me to Makkala Jagriti – a centre for learning and recreation for underprivileged children. I was to start working with one of their branches, by co-ordinating with the centre supervisor/care-taker. All my enthusiasm to finally get involved faced a major hurdle in the form of communication. Kannada being the dominant language spoken, I was all at sea. The centre supervisor helped me understand most of the things the kids said, while encouraging me to be patient. So it was a solemn start in understanding the meaning of patience all over again, patiently.
Week after week, I’d drop by on one of the weekends to spend a couple of hours with the kids. Soon I realised there were some other volunteers visiting the centre as well, but since I was mostly focused on familiarising myself with the new environment, I never really reached out to the other volunteers. On one of my visits, 2 other volunteers, who I’d bump into occasionally, approached me. After introducing themselves to me, Saurabh and Dikshak, began explaining WinningAspirations to me. Frankly speaking, I was a bit sceptical about all that they had to share. WinningAspirations sounded too much like what I’d like an organisation to be, so of course, it must be something else.
WinningAspirations, came into my world in a short 5-10 minutes introduction. A loosely held group of working professionals, out to do something, anything, to benefit some NGOs meet their goals. No joining fees, no membership journals, no elaborate group practices. If I were to agree to work with WinningAspirations, all I had to do was to align my efforts with other volunteer’s efforts in driving well-directed activities. These activities could be thought-up and worked out by us volunteers, or could be an effort by the NGO wherein we pitch in with our efforts. Overall, we were to be a highly spirited bunch of volunteers, who’d be willing to have a good time together while ensuring a great time for those we intend to help.
My first grand experience at doing something remarkable came with the ‘Green Day’ we helped organise at the Makkala Jagriti centre. It was a hard task, but with WinningAspiration volunteers pitching in from various ends of the cities, I soon realised the true potential of a loose, and yet well-knit group of genuine volunteers. ‘Green Day’ needed to be a fun day. It needed to be a day of learning. It needed to be a day when those who are hardly cared for, learn to care for something else – the environment.
With no overriding ‘committee’, nor a governing group in existence, I witnessed and participated in one of the best orchestrated acts of community efforts of my life. Tasks were identified, hands were raised to ‘own’ tasks, and everyone went their own ways. Cometh the day, cometh the power of a ‘group’ – nearly 40 kids were divided into smaller, manageable groups. Concurrent sessions guided the groups through lessons where the focus was always on the kids to find their own way to participate and learn. As each session had an innate connection to some aspect of the environment, we were able to sensitise them, bereft of any didactic approach, to the goodness of recycling, reusing, conserving and caring. At the end, we all assembled for a march through the neighbourhood. With kettles rattling, high-decibel choruses about saving the environment, and finally a skit at the market centre, we came to an end for the day. The kids loved it; The Makkala Jagriti faculty loved it. And we got to believe that much more in ourselves, in WinningAspirations.
The success of the Green Day did a world of good – volunteers got to know each other, a new sense of unity was forged, everyone believed in each other’s abilities and that much more in their own – WinningAspirations as a group, exhibited the virtue of ‘strength in unity’ beyond expectations. The momentum generated helped us bring in some really useful initiatives at the centre. Sessions aimed to assist children prepare well in their academics, yoga training, reading sessions, carom games, computer games, were a general mix of serious and fun efforts aimed to attract the kids. As there was no binding for the kids to visit the centre, it was important to make them feel excited about the things that could be done.
Meanwhile other volunteers would be working with some or the other NGO establishment. Most of the volunteers I knew of, worked with child support groups. A couple of months later, an idea was floated to organise an event which would bring together all these kids. This event would give the kids a feel of how it was with ‘Annual Day’ during our school days. It would consist of a series of extra-curricular events like dancing, singing, enactments, solo performances, etc. The event would also provide a platform for these kids to earn recognition, and most importantly, a whole lot of self-belief.
The nobility of the event was equally matched by the odds stacked against successfully putting together the pieces together. Logistical issues, monetary needs, training the kids for the events [considering they had absolutely no access to any faculty who taught them any extra-curricular activity], arranging for judges and chief guest, were some of the daunting tasks that needed to be sorted out. The group would get together on weekends in a community park, sit in a big circle to discuss, delegate and take ownership of tasks. It was heartening to see that the circle would keep growing with every passing week. From a situation where everything seemed a long shot, we toiled and worked together over a period of 2.5 months to feel confident about pulling off the event successfully.
Starting off at around 5 in the morning, WinningAspirations volunteers began mobilising at different corners of the city. To simply sample the various tasks undertaken – flowers, decorating the auditorium, guiding buses to NGO locations, co-ordinating with the caterers to prepare quality food, arranging for the judges and guests to be brought, getting the costumes and dressing up the children, were some of the important tasks at hand. Teams of volunteers associated with different tasks and aspects of organising the event performed their responsibilities with utmost focus. The result – an incredible event with lots of light, music, dance, and most importantly, an environment electrified by super-charged, super-excited children – took us all by utter surprise.
Volunteers headed back after a long and fulfilling day. The marathon day had no dampening effect on the positive exuberance everyone felt. Soon enough a flood of mails and pictures was unleashed and each one of us got to relive the wondrous moments with our own friends and family. Break Free – I was an incredibly uplifting experience for me. It made everything seem worthwhile, the perfect reward for my act of volunteering.
Many a times, it’s been mentioned by people - what a wonderful job WinningAspirations did with Break Free – I, but little would they know how much Break Free – I did for WinningAspirations. I feel that when working for a cause, the sense of purpose needs to be reinvigorated at times. And it’s only heartening to see WinningAspirations carrying forward the spirit – conducting Break Free at the same time every year. The structure [of the event] changes a bit, the deserving kids get different rewards, but the joy and the enriching feeling remains the same! Last time round, we decided that instead of simple rewards, the deserving kids will earn scholarships. Scholarships, we put together from the funds collected from sponsors and donations from volunteers. It’s a great way to re-affirm the belief in the kids and their families that opportunities are there to be taken, provided the effort and support exists.
Volunteering has often been described as act of selflessness. I believe that’s how each one of us starts off. However, in the long run, the sense of earning a lot in the form of love, respect and the knowledge of having played a role in some way to bring about a positive change, keeps us going. We strive to spread this infectious thought amongst many more. It’s been a fabulous journey. A journey which perhaps will never will have a destination, because there’ll always be something to do as a ‘volunteer’. But the stops on the way have been incredible. All at WinningAspirations have been an incredible bunch of co-passengers, and we’ve celebrated so much in each other’s company.
To the spirit of Volunteering, WinningAspirations remains indebted, and we all salute!
Cheers,
anirvan
volunteer, WinningAspirations.