Thought of starting a charity? What would it be?

poipleshadow

Wow... If I had known that such a simple question would grow to be such a fantastic discussion I would have thought a little more before I wrote it...

Nick H - Not sure how you recognise the 'real ones', being accredited by one rule or another doesn't really mean the work they do is good or required. There is unfortunately huge gray areas when people donate money for a cause. There does seem to be a huge greed by the ones in power of these charities / institutions which goes against everything I think a charity should be! You should be willing to do this work for the love of it and not the money. I'm not saying you shouldn't get paid, obviously you need to live, but the whole idea is that it's charity, if a huge chunk is going into your bank then perhaps you should hand the reins over to someone else...


Government - Well, since I've been in Goa I do think the Government does try and do it's best for it's people, although a lot of the time it's lost along the way with back handers, misused moneies etc... I think the health system is wonderful, although I think it would help enormously if people thanked the doctors/nurses more. We take children a fair bit, and as we're regulars (and I make sure the children say thank you etc), it does make a difference...

If I was to do it again, then I don't know.... It would be a hard choice, I love the work, the children have come on in leaps and bounds (latest newsletter here if anyone is interested, but I don't think I could do it again as it has taken so much out of me... There were lots of times when we nearly gave up, I bet there will still more to come too...

Volunteers - We get lots, it's amazing, I never thought we would have to turn them away, we're currently full up till May 2008 I think... Although some volunteers do seem to come to India to escape from some problem in their lives, which doesn't really make our work any easier... As I volunteered before this I wouldn't have done if I had to pay, so I feel quiet strongly that volunteering should be free, although our volunteers have to find their own accoodation etc (which they pay for), but we do not charge anything. There is just a deposit (£50) which they get back at the end of their 3 month period.

DZIBead - That sounds great... a good reliable water supply is hard to come by, No idea why it's that hard in the towns/populated areas let alone in the middle of nowhere... I'm sure you could even start something now... Even if it's just a small project...

new-south-welshman - What a great idea... Strangely enough that's what we do!!! ) - I think we helped about 70 children this year... We do follow up checks too which is important, also give them somewhere to do homeworks etc... (Great minds...)

steven ber - There is a charity commisioner in most states (although not in Goa, which was very confusing and we had to bash our head against several brick walls as people still think there is...!!!!) Although not sure what this position does... You can be a Trust or a Society (as far as I am aware) and different rules govern each type. As we're a children's charity we also have to register with Women and Child etc.. Again Goa is different as they have the Goa Children's Act, which they update in Gazette's every so often and don't really pulblicise the fact which is a bit of a pain in the butt! Nobody ever seems to know what the law is, it's scarey when I seem to tell the goverment things they don't know (but they wrote)..

capt_mahajan - come on, have a little faith in man kind... I would say 90%....

DZI Bead - Hey good find! (We're a trust btw...) I guess the whole water thing is harder to comprehend (I wouldn't know where to start), although looking after children is in our nature, we'e all been children and know what children need etc...

Steven ber - I would hope that any educated or even determined individual with the right help could becoe anything they would want to be...

Nick H - Trying to steer the thread away from disaster... - I enjoy heated discussions.....

Now... Mary10 Where to start.... I do think that you have some valid points, but you shouldn't stop doing something just because it's hard or dangerous. Believe me, it has been a hige battle for me, from one thing or another, other charities trying to stop you because you are affecting their donations etc... (be very careful about this!!!) - Some of the charities who do it for the oney (rather than to make the world a better place) can be quite annoyed if they think you are on their patch!!! I've been threatened (someone said they'd chop off my arms and legs! - this coming from a Pastor!), had my name smeared, spent several nights with a baseball bat by the side of my bed... I think all of that was in the first six months!!! You either have to be completely commited to doing it, or just insane, perhaps I'm a bit of both! Then as I am a foreigner, theirs the question that everyone asks in every government department - Why aren't you helping the children in your country!!! - Arrgghh! The longer you are in India the more you understand that you might want to change the world, but you have to do it slowly, you had some good points -= jealousy etc, we've had rich neighbours next to the slums making trouble as we weren't helping their children, thankfully now we have the ango House that's not an issue anymore... But this is a huge issue. but I don't think it's a reason to give up! - You just fight harder... I am proud to say that I have not paid a bribe for anything so far... (perhaps that's wehy it took 16? months to get our liecnce). But you have to fight for everything....

There are some great Indians who are doing great things... but that shouldn't stop other people wanting to help. We are all people in the end! Sharing the same planet, if there weren't so many borders in the world, perhaps it would be easier to get along... The problem with helping other charities is that you're trusting them to be doing the correct thing... This is what I did to start with (helped another charity - volunteering) and put my heart and soul into it to find out that they weren't really helping, they weren't making it safe for the children and they seemed to only care about the money. That's why I thought I had to do a better job... I'm not sure if I am, but at least I'm trying... The children we help are getting so much from it, but it's far from perfect, but I will keep trying and keep fighting...

The end... (I think I got a bit mushy near the end - sorry!)

Nick-H

Great post, poipleshadow.

And not at all mushy

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poipleshadow

Oh... Have I killed the conversation? - I thought it was off to a great start...

Nick-H

...You never can tell with an IM thread!

sudheer poppa

I would strictly go around the education side of the story. Infact while I would not really get education into the masses who have none, I would try to improve the quality of the ones who already have. For example some sort of a school partnering system where in which partner a rural school and its children with a school in the western world through the net. They can do joint projects, explore new ideas and overall get into a new mode of thinking. My charity would help manage the database and so on, and give enablers to the schools joining into the program.

If someone like the idea, please take it and run with it so as to get it going. Knowing me, I can take ages to move further.

Anything I do would be around linking the rural societies with advanced techonlogy knowhow. IMHO when we are living in the information age, if we can connect the dots the rest would take care of itself.

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Sama

definitely a girls'/women's project for their empowerment. I already work with a domestic violence shelter so something along those lines, something on the order of The Banyan in Chennai.

when I was in Kodaikanal I bought a scarf from a women's collective where the money went to the rural women.

I am in the very early stages of starting a line of yoga pants and would love to find some women who could weave my cloth and sew the pants with a % of my profits to go back to the collective, a fair trade type of thing.

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shanthi

You are, perhaps, correct in your assumptions Capt. Yet there are some of us who hardly get a penny from donators and whose own savings have been spent on the very children they care for for an extremley long time. But then, the point of a forum is for free speech...isn't it?

On that note, people, I bid you farewell. Shanthistreetkids is continuing and actually expanding now that a house has been given to us in other parts. But we shall no longer be posting on India Mike - in fact this is the last. I sincerely hope, for those amongst you who we know are our friends, will continue calling as you have done for two years, and you know you are welcome to our home when ever you wish to come.

In fact, we wish you ALL well - because giving respect and dignity to a man simply because he is a man, means ALL of us.

lotus blossom

first, let me say that i appluad the work that you are doing! i had read one of the stories of a awesome project that you did (think it was last year), a story that i retold to many people. i'd like to learn more about the dangers that you've faced; have you written more on that? real revolutionaries do what they do because they must, despite whatever danger may be involved.

i agree with you 110 percent. we are all ONE people, sharing ONE planet. it is the borders and the attitude that we have that seperates us, and creates so many of our problems, perhaps most of them. i watched a short video on an american dr. who volunteers in africa for dr's. without borders; it was a beautiful testament to this issue. in the end, we are all ONE people.

time is better spent working together than trying to convince people that they/we have no right crossing borders to help our fellow human-beings.

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lotus blossom

top of my list - and i do have a list...

i've researched this issue myself, (though not for yoga pants) in the past. there are indian farmers that are growing organic cotton (organic would have to be part of the equation, no?). Gaiam (formerly Seven Generations) an eco-company, works with indian farmers in this capacity. they have a lovely write up about it on their website:

"We used to spend 3,000 to 5,000 rupees ($70 to $115) on fertilizers and pesticides, which we had to pay at the time of Diwali," says organic farmer Kailash Burman, speaking of the annual Hindu festival honoring the goddess of wealth. "Now we don't have to do that. The pesticides are natural."

http://community.gaiam.com/gaiam/p/T...nPart1of3.html

working with farmers in this way is another one on my list.

machadinha

I already passed this on to YG, have brought up the organization plenty of times before, but thought I'd leave it here for the benefit of others.

They are not in the business of getting you to find some OK way to order your textiles; however they could surely help with further pointers to local garment workers I think. There's an India division in Tamil Nadu it seems, going by their "branches" links.

See what you make of it: Clean Clothes Campaign http://www.cleanclothes.org/ .

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sudheer poppa

Of those listed I think the worst is Ego. Others atleast know what they want and aim for that, but with Ego its a smooth sail to the wrong direction with possibly more harm than help to those to whom the charity is aimed at.

federica

Funny, just yesterday/today I was thinking of something similar

My NGO should be something with children (education) and/or women (fair trade). Something practical, no awareness campaigns and all that blabla stuff. The low cost housing sector is still interesting, but it is a very tough field for foreigners (for Indians too )

I have worked for an NGO in India and met many people of other NGOs (esp. post Tsunami reconstruction), and lots of them were very committed and working with full heart, so can't agree with 99% of ego feeders... yes, there are... but not that many, it is just that these kind of people make it into the news... more often than the decent rest.

machadinha

Do you know these guys? Looks like an interesting outfit to me. http://www.architectureforhumanity.or g/

federica

Thanks for the interesting link. I didn't know them before, it's always nice to find like minded people and organizations!

richie4india

I would love to be able to give India enough money to provide clean water and sanitation to all residents! Priority would be those in the villages.

You see the money is there but it goes in to the pockets of the corrupt local leaders! Meaning it does not get to the right people.

This brings me on to the current status of India. Unrelated to charities, but maybe we could start a new thread. Anyway, is it just far behind us or in a time warp? Some parts of India have not changed in 50 years. Whilst it is sad to see. It is part of the charm of India.

Needless to say for some of the people in India life can be a struggle - just for the basics - will this ever improve?