It was a Sunday morning(I am not really sure what day it was but on a holiday all days are Sundays) and I was reading the newspaper, starting obviously with the sports column and then to the local news. There was a story on an NGO, Seva Sahyog, and the campaigns they had run to promote child education in the rural areas.I have written about their campaign in the previous blog. So what is the purpose of this blog- well, Keki and Sonali had mentioned that as part of the Grassroutes program we would have to visit an NGO and work with them for some time. Honestly, I was reluctant and had been procrastinating for days(BITSian yaar…its in my blood!) but then I called up their office and headed there. Now, Pune is really divided into two parts-the local Pune..the original Punekars..who have inhabited this place for generations and the cosmsopolitan Pune..where people dont really have an identity..they come from all over the country..it even consists of people like me who are from Pune and yet belong to so many places. The localites are mostly populated in the “city” area. The term “city” is a misnomer for it resembles more like the streets of an Alladin movie..only the camels replaced by the cycles and bikes. It is crowded..very crowded. The office of Seva Sahyog was in the “city” area in one of the millions of lanes and bylanes. I had the detailed address..a block no 382 in Shaniwar Peth. I reached Shaniwar Peth after struggling though the impossible traffic and was standing befween block 381 and 383. I asked around for 382..the 381 block ppl casually pointed to their right and the 383 guys to their left. Block 382 was turning out the be like platform 10 and half in Harry Potter..somewhere but nowhere. Then after what seemed like an eternity, I noticed a lane between the two blocks and decided to see where it led. Yes, it led to 382!. It seemed that 382 was added almost as an afterthought. I walked to up the the Seva Sahyog office. It was actually an apartment converted to an office and for an NGO it was quite impressive, resembling a small corporate office. I was introduced to one their volunteers who was to be my guide while I was with them- Kunal Chaudhary. Kunal first gave me a brief background to the NGO. Seva Sahyog was not an NGO in the conventional sense as in they did not work for the community for a particular cause. They acted as a medium for NGOs by providing them with spon, managerial and HR tools etc. Somewhat like consultant companies for the corporate world. The NGOs approach them with their need, Seva Sahyog draws up a formal proposal and then finds people and resources to help the NGO.In his words ” the NGOs in the Seva Sahyog network are those who have demonstrated a sound and robust record in grassroots work but lack resources like technology, finance and HR to their work to the next level”.
Seva Sahyog is operating with its branches in Pune, Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. They draw volunteers(400 of them) ranging from students to the corporate world (this because of the huge presence of IT coys in Bang and Pune..they are also the major source of their funds). I talked about their initiative of providing poor kids with books and a school bag to school. He said-” Remember when you were school, you used to look forward to your new books and school bag at the start of the academic session. Their smell-the newness. It was a motivation factor for going to school. We are giving these kids that same motivation.” He also explained the way they got sponsorship for their campaign. They first contacted companies in and around Pune and discussed with the top management wanting them to indulge in their Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) activities with Seva Sahyog. After getting their permission, they contacted teh members of the company through the internal mailing system in the company. If they got a good response, they put posters giving details of the amount and contact person in the office. Since some of their colleagues were with Seva Sahyog, the company members felt assured about the usage of funds and contributed generously. The overwhelming response of sponsoring of over 3000 kits (@Rs 200 each) extended to them asking the sponsors to join the assembling and delivery of kits to the kids on weekends. This got a resounding approval with people getting their wives, parents and children along for assemblin the kits…and some of them said it was worth more than a family Sunday picnic. Into its second year..they are now targetting 10,000 kits and are almost done reaching that target.
I was talking on the phone today with our contact in our NGO “Nistha” , Mina di. She was describing the idea behind the concept of an old age home and the problems for funding faced by them. I enquired if they had contacted corporate coys. She said they had refused on the grounds that welfare of old people does not give return as they dont contribute and eventually pass away. However,child related programmes they were certainly interested in..they have a future!.
It caused me to wonder what right a person has sitting in the confines of his air conditioned office to comment on the future of old people-they are a part of society too. It felt sad to know that even in charity some people are not removed from flimsy prejudices.