Thursday, August 20, 2009

Happy to have been proven wrong

I used to wonder how Varun was managing to run an NGO, dreamindia2020.org , entirely manned by volunteers.

Though Varun has shared many experiences of his, I did feel there could be a shortcoming due to a volunteer-only concept and his geographical distance today which he makes up for by being in constant touch (he is the US while the work is going on in India).

Volunteer I did as one of the slums the group worked in was close to my home, but still wondered whether something more was needed.

Geeta’s story, however, has made me rethink on the entire issue. Geeta was very determined to pursue an education in the science stream in the eleventh standard. Those of us in India do know that’s not such an easy task, financially, even for well those with reasonably deep pockets.

Voila! the government began junior colleges with a tie up with reputed coaching centres, where students of government schools are not charged any fees. A volunteer’s efforts in taking her and ensuring her admission there has now made Geeta realize her dream.

I for one, do feel it is going to be the first of many steps in Geeta’s foray into the education of her dreams.

Most of all, am really happy to have been proven wrong in assuming that serious steps could not be taken in a volunteer only organization.

2 comments:

  1. Glad you find the power in this group that we are all part of. There are some operative words here like 'united efforts', 'single minded dedication', 'enterprise','networking' etc. Though the word 'full-time' is not present, the above more than make up for it. Honestly, even we did not think DI would be able to do wonders like it is doing right now. But it did not matter. We just wanted to do what best we could, and as someone famous said (And i started believing in it now) when you want to do something so badly, the whole world conspired to make it happen. Hard work is required for sure, so as to make up for the lack of full time employees, but since we are many in number, and we are all good at networking, it becomes easier to achieve things than it would have otherwise been without modern technology.

    And when soldiers in the border are giving their lives just to we all could be safe, it is a shame on us if we don't keep the diamond that they are so guarding from the outside, clean from the inside.

    I am amazed to see what changes are happening in India and so excited to have the opportunity to be part of all that. So are many many of us. A collection of people with such similar interests is what DI is about.

    We are one big extended family. and we ahve all got brothers and sisters in our Geeta and Shubham and Jayasundari, and Ponni and a host of other children like these. It is our responsibility to take care of them and guide them into this world. Work/personal life should not be an excuse to shirk this responsibility. In fact nothing can be! :)

    (Sorry about the long mail...got carried away i guess..)

    I used to wonder how Varun was managing to run an NGO,dreamindia2020.org , entirely manned by volunteers.

    Though Varun has shared many experiences of his, I did feel there could be a shortcoming due to a volunteer-only concept and his geographical distance today which he makes up for by being in constant touch (he is the US while the work is going on in India).

    Volunteer I did as one of the slums the group worked in was close to my home, but still wondered whether something more was needed.

    Geeta’s story, however, has made me rethink on the entire issue. Geeta was very determined to pursue an education in the science stream in the eleventh standard. Those of us in India do know that’s not such an easy task, financially, even for well those with reasonably deep pockets. The government’s scheme of having a tie up with a reputed coaching centre coupled with a volunteer’s efforts in taking her and ensuring her admission has now made Geeta realize her dream.

    I for one, do feel it is going to be the first of many steps in Geeta’s foray into the education of her dreams.

    Most of all, am really happy to have been proven wrong in assuming that serious steps could not be taken in a volunteer only organization.

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  2. Thanks Varun, for sharing your passion to make a difference. This is truly an inspiration for all of us.

    ReplyDelete