I know i promised you that i wouldnt be to serious on this blog - and about my stay here in India, however i will need to disappoint you a bit, as i will take a bit more serious approach, at least for this posting. So the team and i, just arrived back from a visit with your clients, we started at 11.00 and just finished now 17.00 so a lot of talks and networking, a great meeting, but moreover a eye opener for me.. so let me give you a bit of background about myself that you might not know, every since i can remember i have been involved in community services, volunteering and so on, i have this firm believe that each of us has a responsibility to give back to our local communities, and through this collective effort improve our communities, i have been doing this for years, and frankly speaking has been starting to loose my way, loose my energy and passion for it - as i didnt feel that anything has changed, i didnt feel that people would finally start to live up to their responsibility - to take the lead on changes, and become positive change agents, so i guess this trip was and is for me a chance to get re-energized to continue my efforts..
So now imagine the things i have been called because i believe in the fact that one person can make a difference, that one man or woman can do some good in society - words like naive, stupid, romantic and worse ... - i have seen people shaking their heads at me, when i talk about social responsibility, when i tell people to stop complaining and start acting ... hopeless once in a while.. and rather demotivating, but friends things are getting heated up here in Chennai :-))
So finally i managed to meet with my Client Ms. Virgil D'Sami, the founder of the NGO that i will be working with together with Susanna my colleague from Sweden, so let me give you an idea about what ARUNODHAYA - the name of the NGO is having of vision
.."To build a social movement that will uproot all forms of exploitation and oppression of children and promote and protect the basic human rights of children enabling them to enjoy a dignified childhood"...
What do you think of that ? i know what i think - and the only thing i can say to it is WOW!! a dignified childhood, basic human rights of children, exploitation and oppression - what a cause, what a noble thing to strive for, and here i am almost loosing my faith in doing good, well friends guess what, i am BACK!!!! and this time i am not coming alone, i was sitting in a room with 40 - 50 other people that might be naive, that might be "stupid" that might be a lot of things, but we ALL believe we can change the world - so either come and join or step aside because we are getting started - and we bring passion, believe and change with us...
Susanna and i was talking to Virgil for maybe 5 hours non-stop, what a facinating woman, what an inspirational leader, and what a great person! so some of the thing we talked about where circled around child labour, what is the reason for this, what is the future of these abused children, how it creates a evil circle, what is the responsibility of the governmental sector, the private sectors, the responsibility of you and me.. so look at this, although a child might want to be a child, often in India this is taken away from them due to the fact of parents getting divorced, alcohol issues and other reasons, could you imagine your younger brother or sister, daughter or son being "sold" of to a company to work 12 - 14 hours a day, often resulting in serious health issues, accidents, and in many cases has violence involved ... - so i cant accept that and i wont, so here i am going to help and support this NGO with education so the children can be children, have the right to play and be kids.. so how do we do that, well getting ride of children labour is something that the government can forbid, however what has been seen is that child labour is moved from big companies into smaller housings so although illegal still exists, you need to change the approach, you need to change the mind-set of the local communities, you need to challenge the system, and get people to want to achieve more. Now our task is to help and support a core group of people in the organization in project management so they can teach and train others in project management, so they can start up business, go and make a living for themselves and through this improve their financial situation, hence make child labour useless. So we will support and train the core group so in the end every child can have the right to be a child, and then finally have the right to get an education, and this right to having an education is a very provocative statement as it directly challenges the so-called "cast" system here in India, so that hosts a whole different set of problems.. oh and try to imagine you coming from the slum - where would you study ? what would you pay books with ? school uniforms with ?
What we are looking at here, is that education has to be made key to the success, if you dont get the women / men more educated, you can get rid of child labour, and you dont get people to be interested in education unless you can show something worth considering, with education - what is that ? imagine you live below the poverty level, you have some 25 rupees a day which is not even 1/2 USD, how do you sell education to them, they never went to school, maybe they dont even know how to read or write - please promote education to them, have them spend their last money on that... - it is really not that straight forward, however education is the key to a better life for these people, it is the key to have their children be children, so we have to find a way to make people listen... we have to make them want to carry out this change, education is the key to eliminating child labour, it is the key to improve your living standards, your economical sustainability..You need to see child labour as part of the issue - the consequence but not the cause, the root cause is different, the outcome is child labour - and it is terrible.
Now as child labour has been made illigal in India with recent changes, a new issue starts to arise, and that is the youth exploiratation - youth are in the age of 15 - 18, they are not covered by the legal restrains, and they are to young to join a union, they are, if you will trapped in the middle, this now is starting to host a new set of issues, you cover one issue to uncover another, this is a evil circle...
Many can argue for the fact that this is a straight forward task, to teach a person to train other people, however you need to take into consideration that these people are not from the social upper-class, the are from the slum, they are the lowest low of the "cast" classes, so this is where it will be tricky - it needs to be applicable for a person that doesnt care about theoretical ideas, but needs practical approaches, so thats what we will adopt, a practical approach. With the project management training and train the trainer sessions i hope that we will be able to increase the self-confidence of the women and men being involved in this organization, and i hope and know they will be able to "pay it forward" .. to become change agents of their communities, so they can start youth groups, women support groups, men support groups and make it spread like rings in water ... to make it a powerful positive circle...
here is my last thoughts on todays meeting, call me naive, call me silly, call me romantic, call me whatever you need and want - i believe that everybody has rights, i believe that children has rights, i believe that children has the rights to have a childhood, a childhood that doesnt include working, but includes playing... i believe i can make a difference, i believe i can change the world - and i just came from a meeting where people from +10 different countries, 3 different continents came together - to share one vision, to change the world to something better, now you might not believe in this, and that is up to you - but as i said, dont stand in our way, because we are out on a mission, and that mission is to change.. so come and join... it will be worth it... i wont be easy - but i promise it will be worth it ... We do make a difference, we can change people - ... dont give up...
"Seeing a child work how can there be love in this world, childhood is a once in a life-time opportunity, that every child should experience"
Till our next time - stay true to your belief...
So now imagine the things i have been called because i believe in the fact that one person can make a difference, that one man or woman can do some good in society - words like naive, stupid, romantic and worse ... - i have seen people shaking their heads at me, when i talk about social responsibility, when i tell people to stop complaining and start acting ... hopeless once in a while.. and rather demotivating, but friends things are getting heated up here in Chennai :-))
So finally i managed to meet with my Client Ms. Virgil D'Sami, the founder of the NGO that i will be working with together with Susanna my colleague from Sweden, so let me give you an idea about what ARUNODHAYA - the name of the NGO is having of vision
.."To build a social movement that will uproot all forms of exploitation and oppression of children and promote and protect the basic human rights of children enabling them to enjoy a dignified childhood"...
What do you think of that ? i know what i think - and the only thing i can say to it is WOW!! a dignified childhood, basic human rights of children, exploitation and oppression - what a cause, what a noble thing to strive for, and here i am almost loosing my faith in doing good, well friends guess what, i am BACK!!!! and this time i am not coming alone, i was sitting in a room with 40 - 50 other people that might be naive, that might be "stupid" that might be a lot of things, but we ALL believe we can change the world - so either come and join or step aside because we are getting started - and we bring passion, believe and change with us...
Susanna and i was talking to Virgil for maybe 5 hours non-stop, what a facinating woman, what an inspirational leader, and what a great person! so some of the thing we talked about where circled around child labour, what is the reason for this, what is the future of these abused children, how it creates a evil circle, what is the responsibility of the governmental sector, the private sectors, the responsibility of you and me.. so look at this, although a child might want to be a child, often in India this is taken away from them due to the fact of parents getting divorced, alcohol issues and other reasons, could you imagine your younger brother or sister, daughter or son being "sold" of to a company to work 12 - 14 hours a day, often resulting in serious health issues, accidents, and in many cases has violence involved ... - so i cant accept that and i wont, so here i am going to help and support this NGO with education so the children can be children, have the right to play and be kids.. so how do we do that, well getting ride of children labour is something that the government can forbid, however what has been seen is that child labour is moved from big companies into smaller housings so although illegal still exists, you need to change the approach, you need to change the mind-set of the local communities, you need to challenge the system, and get people to want to achieve more. Now our task is to help and support a core group of people in the organization in project management so they can teach and train others in project management, so they can start up business, go and make a living for themselves and through this improve their financial situation, hence make child labour useless. So we will support and train the core group so in the end every child can have the right to be a child, and then finally have the right to get an education, and this right to having an education is a very provocative statement as it directly challenges the so-called "cast" system here in India, so that hosts a whole different set of problems.. oh and try to imagine you coming from the slum - where would you study ? what would you pay books with ? school uniforms with ?
What we are looking at here, is that education has to be made key to the success, if you dont get the women / men more educated, you can get rid of child labour, and you dont get people to be interested in education unless you can show something worth considering, with education - what is that ? imagine you live below the poverty level, you have some 25 rupees a day which is not even 1/2 USD, how do you sell education to them, they never went to school, maybe they dont even know how to read or write - please promote education to them, have them spend their last money on that... - it is really not that straight forward, however education is the key to a better life for these people, it is the key to have their children be children, so we have to find a way to make people listen... we have to make them want to carry out this change, education is the key to eliminating child labour, it is the key to improve your living standards, your economical sustainability..You need to see child labour as part of the issue - the consequence but not the cause, the root cause is different, the outcome is child labour - and it is terrible.
Now as child labour has been made illigal in India with recent changes, a new issue starts to arise, and that is the youth exploiratation - youth are in the age of 15 - 18, they are not covered by the legal restrains, and they are to young to join a union, they are, if you will trapped in the middle, this now is starting to host a new set of issues, you cover one issue to uncover another, this is a evil circle...
Many can argue for the fact that this is a straight forward task, to teach a person to train other people, however you need to take into consideration that these people are not from the social upper-class, the are from the slum, they are the lowest low of the "cast" classes, so this is where it will be tricky - it needs to be applicable for a person that doesnt care about theoretical ideas, but needs practical approaches, so thats what we will adopt, a practical approach. With the project management training and train the trainer sessions i hope that we will be able to increase the self-confidence of the women and men being involved in this organization, and i hope and know they will be able to "pay it forward" .. to become change agents of their communities, so they can start youth groups, women support groups, men support groups and make it spread like rings in water ... to make it a powerful positive circle...
here is my last thoughts on todays meeting, call me naive, call me silly, call me romantic, call me whatever you need and want - i believe that everybody has rights, i believe that children has rights, i believe that children has the rights to have a childhood, a childhood that doesnt include working, but includes playing... i believe i can make a difference, i believe i can change the world - and i just came from a meeting where people from +10 different countries, 3 different continents came together - to share one vision, to change the world to something better, now you might not believe in this, and that is up to you - but as i said, dont stand in our way, because we are out on a mission, and that mission is to change.. so come and join... it will be worth it... i wont be easy - but i promise it will be worth it ... We do make a difference, we can change people - ... dont give up...
"Seeing a child work how can there be love in this world, childhood is a once in a life-time opportunity, that every child should experience"
Till our next time - stay true to your belief...
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