by Anuradha Bakshi | Jan 17, 2006 | Uncategorized
Because of your smile.. you make life more beautiful... Thich Nhat Hanh
This simple quote by a vietnamese monk sums up nanhe’s mission on planet earth.. many of you have fallen in love with his smile and his incredible courage..
I must confess there are some who have, albeit in veiled words, wondered why we are putting up such a fight for one like nanhe..
Long ago, a friend had told me that special children come on this earth with a mission many fail to recognise.. they come to make us better people, to help us get to that part of us we are unaware of.. to help us learn to look at the small things that matter most and that we often pass by.. and maybe to show us the way when all seems lost..
I am amazed at the number of friends who have rallied around nanhe, the incredible love he has managed to awaken in so many people..
And to those who wonder why we are fighting for nanhe, let me say it is simply because he makes life more beautiful
by Anuradha Bakshi | Jan 16, 2006 | Uncategorized
...and if at any time you feel like there is no hope, think of me sitting 10000 miles away not giving up on him! Also, if there is anything that needs to be done (absolutely anything!) and is stopped because of lack of funds, let me know immedietely…..I will raise funds for him
Our prayers are with Nanhe, god can’t snatch away his gorgeous smile… I’m praying really hard…
we are all praying for him… I am confident it will work!!
These are just a few of the messages that dropped in my mail box moments after friends heard that nanhe’s smile was in danger.. he was to be operated upon but an erratic blood pressure and low blood count made the doctors postpone surgery to next week..
For seventenn long nights and as many long days, nanhe has held on to his smile.. as you can see in the picture taken a few hours ago.. he has kept his part of the deal.. we are the ones that have not..
He has kept smiling in spite of excruciating pain, humiliating invasive tests, innumerable jabs and pokes.. telling us silently, in his inimitable way, that he was willing to fight with us… and we cannot give up…
I hope someone is listening….
by Anuradha Bakshi | Jan 16, 2006 | Uncategorized
Gary handed me over a CD with pictures taken during Babli’s angiography. Gary specialises in medical photography, and one would expected a series of ‘scientific snapshots’. What enfolded as I saw the pictures was the poignant tale of a scared lonely child and the disturbing lack of concern of a father..
I will let the pictures tell their story..
This is the child that was left to ‘die’ as she was a girl.. maybe the old uncaring father feels that all this is a big waste…
by Anuradha Bakshi | Jan 14, 2006 | Uncategorized
Many of you have shared with us babli’s tryst with life.. this little woman of substance is a true braveheart…
Till now, for babli the ‘surgery’ had been something everyone talked about, something vague that the poor child had no way of imagining. She used to say with her perky smile and bright eyes that she was not afraid.
But now it is real and it was heart wrenching to see how hard she tried to put up a brave face when faced with the the complex machines and the men in white. You could see fear in her eyes though she tried her best to overcome it..
When I finally met her after the ordeal of her angiograpahy as she lay on a stretcher in the dark corridor of the hospital ward, visibly in pain, she jumped up and greeted me with her ususal ‘hello ma’am’… her eyes filled with trust and hope..
babli is now back with us at project why and we await the surgery date…
by Anuradha Bakshi | Jan 14, 2006 | Uncategorized
“I know that I can donate to the organization through the website, but I would prefer to sponsor one child’s education completely” was what was written in a mail that dropped in my box this morning. It came from an Indian living abroad.
I often get request like this and I reply to them individually.. some undesrtand , others never write back. This time I thought it would be better to address the ‘sponsorship’ issue in an open post.
I do not know when ‘sponsoring children’ became a fashionable option in the ever growing charity business.. and many moons ago, when I had not started work on the field, it seemed acceptable..
Today it is something that I find difficult to accept, and even though I know it closes many doors to me, I find it not in tune with the project why spirit.
I will try and explain why…
Project why’s main trust is to empower people to take on the reins of their lives, and stand on their own.. and singling out one child is a sure of way of marginalising her or him. For us all the children are the same and they all the deserve the best… and as we hope one day to have the community itself steer the project by pooling resources, the idea of sponsored kids does not work.
Then, project why being a support education system, cannot ensure that a child will remain with us for a given time. His parents may leave the area, or the city… or some other case of force majeure may lead to them leaving..
What we seek is support to continue our work which extends far beyond simple education. In empowering a community you must gain its trust and reach out whenever a problem arises. Only then will people accept your ideas and your suggestions. A simple school certificate that can be obtained with a mere 33% , is not what will change India.They are larger issues that need to be addressed.
We do understand that donors want to know where ‘their money goes‘. That is why we set ot what we call an adoption plan for want of a better word, and hence a donor can chose a group of kids, and we then provide information about the group.
That is one end of the story, but there is a more disturbing one. Why is it that we give more easily when there is heart wrenching story, a terrible calamity, a face to relate to.. is it not much more because of some inadequacy in us… lack of trust in the other, some innate fear..
When we launched our one rupee programme, it was with the idea of blurring the great donor-recipient divide, to make everyone a potential donor.. and we still believe that it will happen some day, as that is the only long term option to sustain such efforts.. till then we hope tat those of you who think we are doing something worthwhile will continue believing in us!
by Anuradha Bakshi | Jan 13, 2006 | Uncategorized
It was a sunny afternoon and some friends decided to take us to lunch at an ‘upmarket’ restaurant not far from pwhy HQ.. we were a motley crowd of six ladies and two lads ranging from age 54 to age 4.. some from France, some from planet why, and even our very own NRI.
The place was empty when we arrived and settled down to order our fare.. A while later a drove of high society ladies entered and we were assailed by whiffs of heady perfumes and dazzled by sparkles quite inapropriate for a weekday afternoon.. they soon setttled taking up two large tables..
We carried on our lunch a little suprised at the lack of noise and realised that the ladies were down to serious business: they were playing tombola, and enormous wads of currency notes lay across the tables..
S our die hard volunteer, and M an NRI student with a heart, decided against all counsel provided by now hardened yours truly, fished out some Pwhy pamphlets and decided to commit what I knew was nothing short of sacrilege.. interrupt the ongoing session to seek support..
My heart went out to them as they set out with their smiles and hopes riding high..
The conclusion was foregone: a score or more of angry eyes spoke volumes as one irritable voice conveyed the message. How had they dared interrupt their game…
In a way I smiled smugly, like the proverbial cheshire cat, as I knew that they had experienced in person what I had tried in vain to convey for so long…
If I ended this post here, it could pose as a poor copy of the famous portraits of La Bruyere.. but I have to take it further. Not as a reformist, as I am not here to chnage the world, but simply to say how tragic and sad it is that people with education and resources waste their golden years in such futile activities… They could so easily bring happiness to themselves and joy to others by indulging in some activity that could help tarnsform the world around them…
But let us not forget oh darling yeh hai dilli..
