by Anuradha Bakshi | Oct 27, 2005 | sustainability
Many a times I have wondered why funders are reluctant to fund running costs and staff honoraria.. I always felt it was because administation costs were heavy; to my mind project why did not fit the picture, as our salaries went to the slum people and above all we were creating new job opportunities..
I got my answer when a net friend visited pwhy recently and elucidated the matter. She heads a small employee funding group within a large organisation and has been engaged in helping out development work in many countries. She told me that at the outset they had funded running costs, and even though they had been assured that it was for a limited time, they had actually found themselves doing this year after year as there was always a valid reason and one does not leave children in the lurch. She added :” they just became dependant on us”.
For me it was like the dropping of the proverbial penny!
The glove fitted.. was this not what was happening to us, where many of the pwhy team were sinking into a false comfort zone, and some of us were seeking help over and over again saying that this would be the last time!
It would be untrue and unfair to say that we did not try ways to sustain our activities. Over the past years we have like many other NGOs made our share of candles, paper bags, jewels, jute bags, recycled paper copy books.. but in a saturated market we were not able to go beyond a few ‘pity’ sales!
We realised that unless a local market within the community was found, such efforts would not be suficient to sustain project why’s activities.
We were aware that the funding solution had to be found within and that is how the one-rupee idea took seed. A quick calculation of the number of dwellings that surround us – mostly middle class homes- showed us that a simple rupee a day frome each one of them would see us through.. but then someone had to walk up the stairs and knock at doors…
The problem lies elsewhere.. we can go on harping on the lack of concern and heart of the rich around us, but we cannot close our eyes to another factor which contributes to our lack of success: I will simply call it the government job syndrome and it ails most of the slum work force.
The same people who toiled in the fields and in their homes from dawn to dusk in their villages, feel that once they reach urban lights they have earned the right to get a salary without any effort or commitment..
One of the reasons I guess that has delayed the real take off of the 0ne-rupee-a-day campaign is this passive and non-productive attitude.. there are some people who have realised the futility of such an attitude and that is why the secondary section is almost self-sustainable.. but that is not the case with all..
So what does one do, carry on bringing doses of oxygen with the dangers of having sources – however friendly and supportive – die out, or take an extreme action, just like the one a sensible parent would take with a child who has set on a wrong course.
In our situation it would be to stop all activities unless all beneficiaries – staff and parents – do their bit.. Let us say bring 50% of the ressources in cash or kind..
It is not an easy thing to do– just as it is not easy to throw a child out in the cold to teach him how to deal with life.. but it seems more and more likely that this is the only way left..
What is left to be decided is when…
by Anuradha Bakshi | Oct 27, 2005 | Uncategorized
with much fanfare we launched our ‘project why star raffle‘: what better place than an upmarket girls college’s diwali mela to do this!
the prizes were well adapted to the page 3 crowd: a tete a tete meal with a famous bollywood star, a make over at a star beauty parlour; we had even got some smaller prizes that we thought we would draw every hour..
the ticket was priced at 30rs!
At the end of the day a very crestfallen team counted the loot: 500rs . Needless to say they had decided not to draw any prize!
The table next to ours had a young rookie tarot card reader. She made over 10 K!
But all is not lost, let us not forget that hope still lies safely within Pandora’s box.
by Anuradha Bakshi | Oct 26, 2005 | Uncategorized
Got a lovely ecard from a dear friend of project why: Nauko
I always get energy and rest at the same time when I visit your Planet Why.
It’s one of rare occations when I can feel happy in Delhi.
Please keep the Planet busy, but happy.
Nauko is from Japan and has been a regular volunteer with project why for over a year.. and a faithful one.. she comes and goes and has her own little projects with different sections.. often we only realise she came much after she has gone; she has found her place.. and fills it gently, quetly and with lot of love..
Nauko says she feels happy on our little planet.. and I agree with her. As you land on planet why, you have no option but to leave your problems behind, actually they seem quite insignificant as a child grabs your hand and another wishes you.. the smiles you get are enough to wash away all that ails you, at least for a while..
You get engrossed in the day’s activity and hear about all the news: sapna has started walking, and babli will soon be operated upon and the twins are now talking and farzana got an 80% in english.. the excitement is palpable as everyone has something to share..
the tailoring unit is in place and there are great bags to sell.. and a raffle too.. you try to catch up with everything and by the time you are ready to leave you realise that you are feeling good and have reconnected with a part of yourself you had forgotten existed..
by Anuradha Bakshi | Oct 26, 2005 | Uncategorized
ominous title I agree but do we all not have to face a day of reckoning, a day when all questions will have to be answered with utmost and painful honetsty
As I browsed through the thousands of photographs of life on our planet looking for one that could ‘illustrate’ this post, I realised that there is not a single sad snapshot, every picture is one of hope and happy thoughts…
So I decided to take a picture of our one and only mr popples and remove the colour..
If project why was simply a journey of self realisation then I could simply retire satsified with a job well done: five years of school success for tens of scores of kids, heart surgeries, lives saved.. more than enough brownie points for a life time..
But was this why it all began… is this how debts are paid back.. is this how children are treated: mere commodities for personal agendas..
The reason for all this soul searching is my stubborn refusal for a large sum of money which bears a tag: to be used to purchase a piece of property… it is of course given in good faith as a means to ‘save’ money but everything in me is pushing me away from this option..
It is hard to explain why.. but somehow it spells doom and the end of what project why stands for..
I have been at sixes and sevens trying to explain this to all concerned but my conviction is deep seated: in todays India we need options that can not only be multiplied, but that can stand alone irrespective of extraneous factors.. we need to make the journey from recipient to donor, from PL 480 to Katrina, in every field.. and that is only possible if all the parts of the whole respect that spirit..
If project why wants to be model that any community of socially and economically under-privilegd parents can truly emulate, then every every aspect has to be so crafted as not to need outside support.. and that is why a simple option as the 0ne-rupee-a-day has to be made a reality.. I agree that it may take time and several mutations (be it raffles or such things), but once it has been proved and tested then the final transition has to be made, when each community looks after its own..
The model we craft has to reflect the reality of the community it caters to and answer its hope and aspirations.. but above all it has to instill in each one the feeling that (s)he can be in charge
Yes there has to be an end some day: the optimist one would be when a community is fully empowered; the other extreme would be when we accept closure after having been truly convinced that we tried everything..
But let us not forget that even as I write these words, there is a whole bunch of people, the ones that steer project why today, who are sufficiently empowered to carry on their way!
by Anuradha Bakshi | Oct 24, 2005 | Uncategorized
“Life” says Oriana fallaci “is such an effort. It is a war renewed each day’ and she goes on to say :”To fight is much better than to win, to travel much better than to arrive; once you have won or arrived you feel great emptiness… and have to set out again, create new goals..”
Lettera a un bambino mai nato, Rizzoli, 1975, translation by Shepley published as Letter to a Child Never Born, Simon & Schuster (New York City), 1976.
Often when I am confused, perplexed or unable to explain certain things to myself. i have found grat solace and moorings in the writings of Fallaci and once again I find myself looking for answers..
Five years ago I decided to create project why.. 20 kids some english classes and a journey I could not begin to imagine.. five years down the line .. 600 kids, 100% results, 40 new jobs for people thought unemployable, social barriers overcome, dignity restored for special children, women empowered, three heart surgeries and one on the anvil, a child saved from third degree burns, women empowered.. not a bad track record
And all this at minimum cost, no frills, no unecessary expenses.. so where is the hitch
Simply to get the 130 000 x 12 x 5 Rs that were needed to reach there.. the innumerable refusals, the promises unkept, the empty words of admiration never followed by a simple gesture..
One has lost count of the number of mails sent, lost count of the number of times one had to explain why one did not take the usual road, lost count of the time spent explaining what seemed so obvious if anyone were to take the time to realise that education had to be perennial and endure, and be free of the moods, flavours and trend of the day and thus all resources had to follow suite..
Some did understand and a wonderful network of people from the world over have supported us and infused into project why, a magic that has allowed it to live on .. but these are small islands of hope, little bouts of oxygen and not the lungs needed..
More mails are written, more ideas mooted and then just when you think you have got it, the refusal, the impersonal decision makers who do not want to take a risk… or prefer the conventional options..
Why does project why not want to take the conventional and accepted funding ways.. many reasons but let me just say the following:
Which funding head allows one to educate, care for special kids, repair a heart, reach out when needed..
Were we to accept the conventional ways then all the ‘teachers’ would lose their jobs as they would not meet the stipulations and yet they are the ones who have got consistent 100% results from class I to XII for five long years..
Were we to accept the conventional way we would have to increase our administrative costs to fulfill the complex paperwork..
Were we to accept the conventional way, project why woud lose its soul and its spirit..
So one has to fight on… and maybe one day… but then if we are to believe Oriana Fallaci, a great emptiness would be waiting..
But we would create new goals…
