a cause a month

My Last Post - Help a person with mental health problems regain control of life.

2012-07-31T03:37:00.002-07:00

It’s been a year now that I have been writing the posts on this blog. I thank all of you with all my heart for the time spent in reading it, as time, we know has become a very expensive commodity today.

I had loved to write on this blog, as in the process of writing, I came to know about facts which I myself didn’t know about. And each time I wrote about any issue, it made me feel even more strongly about doing something more to help resolve it.

Although it’s been wonderful to research on charities and select a charity of the month, I feel that I need to be even more connected with the cause I am involved with and work longer than a month one one cause to have a more sustained result. For this reason, I will be ending my blog this month.

Have I decided what I am going to do next? No. But hopefully my mind will figure it out. After all, the idea of this blog also came from my mind.

Mind! What an amazing thing! The whole world makes sense only through what our mind thinks of it. Hence someone has rightly said, “My world is in my mind.”

Human mind has achieved nothing less than miracles when you think of all the inventions and discoveries in literary every sector of the world.

We can see and talk to people from the other end of the world and can even fly around our planet, only through technologies created by great minds. We have found the cures for many critical diseases, created exotic pieces of art and structures, all only by putting our minds into it. From the time we wake up to the time we go back to bed, we can do nothing without first creating a thought (either consciously or subconsciously) about it in our minds.

As powerful a gift as it is to humanity, all great scriptures of our world tell us that “Mind is a great servant but a terrible master” and advice us to always be on guard of the thoughts we create.

So what happens when we lose control and let our minds take charge? It then becomes a monster making us helpless and out of control and leading us to our own misery. The doctors define these conditions as “Mental health diseases”.

Mental health problems include a wide range of illnesses like depression, anxiety, self-harm, eating disorders, schizophrenia, psychosis, stress and bipolar disorder. Some problems may be quite mild or moderate, while others may take on a more severe form, affecting a person’s ability to cope with day-to-day living and maintain any personal relationships.

All a person needs in these type of situations is to speak to somebody who understands them and not judge them and give them a hand to come out of the mental trap and take back control, because only when we are in full control of our minds, we are truly happy!

This month I would like to donate to the charity “Mind – For Better Mental Health”. This is a charity in the UK which offers diagnostics and treatment for the different mental health diseases, has a helpline where people can call for advice and various other services to improve mental health.

Link to the charity website

http://www.mind.org.uk/

Link to the online donation link

http://www.mind.org.uk/donate

Help a rural entrepreneur by investing in their business

2012-06-13T02:57:00.000-07:00

I am always intrigued by the way a bank helps people live their dream lives. Whether your dream is to drive that best car in the market, buy your own home or get an education from that top notch school, there is a loan available to live that dream in the present. By helping people have, what they would otherwise had taken a life time to get, a bank as an institution has a big role in enriching people’s lives.

So all you need to do is approach a bank for what you want and get the loan. Right? Well, not so fast! If you are one of those people who do not have a good credit history, then the loan may not be sanctioned. Alternatively if the interest rates are too high to pay for you, it may not be an attractive option to you either. One may think that this is a sure sensible way to go. After all, banks exist to make a profit of their own too.

However, it is such a sad fact that there are a large number of people who are never able to get the loan they need, as they invariably fall into the above two categories. These are the people who are stuck up in what economics defines as the ‘cycle of poverty’. Because of being poor, they are not able to access financial capital to start-up a business or learn a new skill and due to this they again continue to stay poor.

All around, you see different people of this section in the society, serving you every day, in the guise of fruit and vegetable vendors, milk sellers etc conveniently located close to your home. All they need is a little nudge to help improve the productivity of their work and hence their income. And by doing that, they are also able to serve the local public in a better way. As everybody else, isn’t it their right too, to improve their standards of living?

It is correct that a bank should check the credit history to avoid defaults before giving a loan and should charge an interest to get their return on investment. But how can a poor person have a credit history when no one has trusted him/her with credit before? Also the amount of loan required by them is very low. If a very high interest rate is charged on a small income, then would the loan be a viable one?

To help empower this section of the society, “Microcredit Banks” have been set-up by various voluntary organizations. Professor Muhammad Yunus is one of the pioneers of setting up such a bank, where small loans are given to poor people, with a low interest rate, so that they can find income generating opportunities, enabling them to rise above poverty levels. Yunus was awarded a noble peace prize for his outstanding efforts in making millions of people financially self sufficient.

Today, there are many micro credit institutions all over the world. One of these institutions is the charity “Rangde”. This is a web based social initiative which supports rural entrepreneurs from low income households by providing access to low cost microcredit. With more than 14000 borrowers and close to 4000 investors and a repayment rate of more than 99%, the charity is doing a commendable work in this sector. This month I would like help a rural entrepreneur by investing in their business through rangde to express my support in their zeal to grow in life.

Link to the charity website
www.rangde.org

Link to the list of borrowers to invest online

http://www.rangde.org/invest/microcredit/india

Help make clothing a matter of concern

2012-05-16T05:17:00.000-07:00

Clearing my wardrobe on the weekend, I found a dress which I had completely forgotten about. Why did I still keep it? Because it was so beautiful! Will I ever use it? Not at least in the next few months!

I checked how many more clothes I had which I hadn’t been using in the last couple months and was surprised to find a lot. I put all of them in a bag and donated them to a local charity which made me feel really good.

I then wondered why I was feeling so good. Was it because I thought I did a righteous act of giving something to charity or was it because my wardrobe looked more spacious and organized now? May be a bit of both, but I now knew that it wasn’t just me helping the charity; the charity was helping me too, by giving me, ease of access to my own possessions.

The world today is divided into two kinds of people. People who have excess of anything and people who are in complete lack of the same thing. This gap is very wide in one of the most important essentials of human life. Clothing!

While one section of the society have their closets overflowing with garments from all top brands in the fashion market, another section of the society struggles to put that last possible stitch, on the single garment they have, in an attempt to use it for a few more days.

While people in one part of the world wear their outfits to flaunt their status symbol, in another part of the world, people cover themselves with just a few scraps, to protect their dignity.

While millions of people go shopping to buy a new jacket, just because they are bored of wearing the same old stuff, the remaining millions die in winter because of insufficient clothing to keep warm.

Does all this mean that we live in guilt because some of us cannot afford what we can and stop buying stuff? Of course not! Buying any new stuff brings its own air of delight into our homes and by buying new stuff we are also helping the economy. But a real balance can only be achieved when we buy consciously, let go off things we no longer use and pass them on with love, to people who need it.

This month I would like to donate 2000 INR to the charity “Goonj”. This is a charity in India which strives to create a balance between the surplus and the deficient. In one part of the world, it clothes people and gives them a life of self-respect and in another part of the world; it creates space and peace of mind for people by removing the clutter from their homes. Started in 1998 with only 67 personal clothes, GOONJ is channelizing over 70,000 kg of material every month. The charity not only transfers the material it receives to the right people but also uses them as a resource in its very own innovative programs like Cloth for work, School to School campaigns and Recycling them into new products

Link to the charity website

http://goonj.org/

Link to the online donation links
http://www.giveindia.org/iGive-goonjcharity
http://goonj.org/?page_id=838

Help provide clean water For Drought-Affected Families In India

2012-04-13T05:47:00.037-07:00

Water! So Important that Leonardo Da Vinci once called it “The driving force of all nature.”

Ever notice how lifeless a house plant looks when you forget to water it? Just a little water and it starts to look happy and lively again. This is exactly what water does to us too.

When I read the fact that our bodies are made up of over 70% water, our blood more than 80%‚ our brain over 75%‚ our livers an amazing 96% and what more, water is also contained in every cell of the body, I had an obvious question. If we are so full of water, why are we told to drink 8 glasses of water every day?

The answer is simple. Water is used up in almost every important function of the body.

Regulating our body temperature needs water as it dissipates excess heat and cools our bodies. And how important is this function? Only as important as not getting a heat stroke or fever!

Removal of waste from the kidneys needs water as all the waste needs to be dissolved in water. So what would happen if this waste is not cleared out? Well, we will then need to know what would happen when there is any damage to the kidneys!

Lubricating of joints and the spinal cord requires water. Can we be bothered by that? It depends! Can we be bothered if we have to wail with pain every time we want to bend or move our hands and legs?

We even need water to breathe as our lungs need to be moistened to be able to respire. I don’t think we need to ask how important being able to breathe is. But if we still want to know, we can just stop breathing for a few seconds and check! :)

We can go on and on about how water is helping our entire body in performing all the functions we don’t even think about every day and we are sure to find more and more. But I think we all agree that to live healthier lives we need to drink more water.

So, all we need to do is turn on the tap and pour a glass of water. Right? Well, not if you are one of those people who is living in a place where water, instead of being a basic human right, is actually an item of luxury.

Knowing how each of the functions of our bodies can start collapsing if we don’t drink enough of water, shouldn't water be an easily available commodity?

How unfortunate is it then, if for such a basic need, you need to do miles and miles of walking, line up in a long queue and wait for hours for your turn to come up. You then have to haul that heavy can of water back home and walk those long miles again. And does it end there? Of course not! This could just be the first of your several trips, on that day, to get water for you and your family.

This month I would like to donate 30$ to the charity “Gramin Vikas Vigyan Samiti” who has been empowering the rural power of Thar Desert in india since the last 25 years. Since its origin, the charity has been assisting people there to achieve water security and uses the majority of its resources to this end. One of their projects is building of water-collection tanks, to ensure easy, continuous access to water for 700 families living in 10 remote villages in Rajasthan. By helping resolve the problem of water, the charity indeed helps the people live healthier lives.

Link to the charity website

http://www.gravis.org.in/

Link to the online donation link

http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/clean-water-for-drought-affected-families-in-india/

Help improve the quality of life of a terminally ill person

2012-03-09T02:38:00.001-08:00

Death! We all know that it is our inevitable destiny but as long as we know that it is going to be on some day and not today, do we really do anything about it?

Since time immemorial, many wise people have told us, in various ways, to live each day as though it is our last to make the most of our lives. But do we really get the true essence of it?

Do we enjoy whatever life has given us, while it lasts, as we know that we are going to lose it all someday; or do we hoard as many possessions as we can and live in a constant fear of losing them?

Do we love our closed ones just the way they are, as we know that we have come into this world alone and will leave alone too; or do we try to control them with our demands and expectations?

Do we seek the bliss in any act in the act itself, as we know that our actions are the only things that are remembered when we are gone; or do we have a mindset of “What’s in it for me?” in every task we do?

Death, when it arrives, tells us what the right thing to do was in all those situations, but no matter when it comes in our lives we are never truly ready for it and we will most certainly wish we had more time.

To some people, death comes all of a sudden and even before they know it, they have left us. And to some people, it comes with a prior notice, reminding them every day, that the end is now not far away.

Terminal illness is such a case where there is no hope for the person’s cure and death is just around the corner. It is painful and gets worse with each passing day. Each person reacts differently to the news of carrying a terminal illness ranging from disbelief to anger to depression.

In such times of distress, a person needs help in realizing that death is not an event but a process. Support is required in moving them from whatever stage of reaction they are in to a stage of acceptance as only acceptance of any situation can make the situation smaller than what they are truly capable of.

This month I would like to donate 20£ to the charity Marie Curie Cancer Care. This is a charity in the UK which helps patients live the best possible lives they can in those last days. They have hospices where the patients can get admitted to and be taken care of. They also provide registered nurses and health care professionals for home care. Services like alleviating physical pain, emergency help in situations like difficulty breathing etc, counseling support to the patient and family, integrating spiritual belief to help cope with the situation are all provided free of charge to such people. They probably cannot increase the quantity of a person’s life, but they most certainly help increase the quality of the person’s life

Link to the charity website

http://www.mariecurie.org.uk/

Link to the online donation link

https://www.mariecurie.org.uk/en-gb/donate/donatenow/?a=5

Educate one visually challenged child for one year

2012-02-10T06:14:00.000-08:00

I remember a time when I was very afraid of dark. I used to be so scared of it, that I could hardly go to the next room without somebody accompanying me if that room did not have lights for some reason.

Thankfully, today we have artificial lightings everywhere to ward off those feelings of fear. But thinking about those times raised a rather disturbing thought in me. What about people who always have to live in the dark because all they can see is darkness. Are they afraid of the dark too, like I was? What does their life feel like?

My life seems to be pretty straight forward with these eyes. I name different things in the world based on how they look. I understand what is happening around me by reading about it. When I have some time to entertain myself, I watch TV. I check if the fruits and vegetables are fresh by the way they appear. I understand what somebody feels just by observing their facial expressions. I know as soon I notice, that a smile from somebody means, the person is happy and a frown from somebody means, the person is irritated.

I believe what I see!

I know that this is how I have been living all my life because I have eyes. A person without them will have a very different perception of the world and a totally different way to experience it. But will there really be nothing they are missing out on?

Well, there probably isn’t as much as the society makes them think so. They only need a little bit of support and a little bit of confidence from us (and not sympathy) to help them get on with their lives. But don’t all of us need that from time to time?

History has got some remarkable people who never let blindness come in their way. Helen Keller, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Louis Braille are just to name a few. However, there could be millions of others who have the same fire in them but are not able to reach where they want to go because they haven’t got the same cooperation from their societies.

This month I would like to donate to the charity, Vidyaranya Education and Development Society (VEDS) in India, whose vision is “To build a just and peaceful society”. One of their projects is to run a residential school for visually challenged children. In just INR 1900, the education cost of a poor visually challenged child for one year will be covered.

Liink to the charity website

http://www.vidyaranya.in/

Link to the online donation link

http://www.giveindia.org/p-4325-educate-a-poor-blind-child-for-one-year.aspx#

Support planting 1000 trees and saving 100 acres of the Peruvian Amazon forest

2012-01-11T04:43:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, not long ago, a tree sang to me the following poem.....

I keep standing in this position and haven’t moved an inch, since the day I was born.

Do you know why?

Because I know I am a landmark to you here and will help you find your way.

I create flowers and fill them with different colours, sometimes even in the midst of thorns.

Do you know why?

Because I know you want to bunch them together and give it to someone you love.

I produce fruits and vegetables, sometimes so heavy that I began to bend.

Do you know why?

Because I know you will be healthy and full of life by just eating them.

I stretch myself in all directions, sometimes so far that I hardly see my own branches.

Do you know why?

Because I know you will seek protection under me, from the scorching heat and the heavy rains.

I serve you in all possible ways your mind can think, many times even after I am dead.

Do you know why?

Because I know it will help you have, all that you think is necessary for a comfortable life.

I do nothing and patiently watch, when I see you rapidly cut off, every one of my species.

Do you know why?

Because I know that my nature is only to give and never to get back at any one.

Surely, there is no amount of gratitude enough for having trees in the world. As a chinese proverb goes, "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago and the second best time is now", this month I would like to support the charity "Camino Verde" in their noble task to plant 1000 trees and save 100 acres of the Peruvian Amazon forest.

By paying 25$, the cost of transporting over 100 tree seedlings will be covered.

Link to the charity website.

http://www.caminoverde.org/

Link to the on-line donation link

http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/planting-1000-trees-saving-100-acres/

Provide one mid day meal to one child for one whole year

2011-12-12T06:57:00.000-08:00

On the first day to school, a boy asks his dad, “Dad, why do I have to go to school?” to which the Dad replies, “Son, if you go to school and become educated, one day, you will know enough things with which you will be able to earn decent amount of money”. Then the boy asks “But Dad, why do I have to earn money? “ The Dad replies “Because son, when you grow up and I may not be here to take care of you, you will need to feed yourself and money and education will help you do that.”

I don’t think anybody would disagree with why the Dad wanted his son to go to school. A lot of people consent that Illiteracy is the biggest cause of world hunger. The reasoning goes as below.

Illiteracy =>Unemployment => Poverty =>Shortage of food =>World Hunger

Let us try to see if we can solve the above problem in the following way.

Make people literate => so that they can get good employment => to have an income more than the poverty line => to be able to buy food someday => and thus finally prevent World Hunger.

The biggest problem with this approach is that it may take a life time of patience and hard work from both sides to achieve the end result.

Einstein had rightly quoted, “Problems cannot be solved at the same level that created them”. We need to address this problem from the highest level first which is to prevent world hunger.

Ever tried to focus your mind on something when extremely hungry? How does it feel? Now imagine a little boy or girl sent to school to learn hundreds of new things with a hungry stomach all day. How much motivated would he/she be to stay in school least of all interested in listening to the teachers talking about algebra or geography?

Though education may be free in many schools, do you know why close to 13.5 million children in India are still into child labor? For majority of cases it’s just to earn that one single meal in a day!

This month I would like to donate to the charity “Akshaya Patra” (meaning inexhaustible bowl of food) which understands the importance of hunger free children and provides mid day meals to around 1.3 million under privileged children in school. With only 675INR the expenses for providing one mid day meal to one child for one whole year will be covered.

Would this help the child study harder? I don’t know. But would it discourage him/her from doing odd jobs in the worst work environments and motivate him to stay in school longer? Most probably yes!

Link to the charity website
https://www.akshayapatra.org/

Link to the online donation option

https://www.akshayapatra.org/onlinedonations

Help prevent half a heart become half a life

2011-11-16T05:07:00.000-08:00

The birth of a baby! Is it common? Yes, Of course, there could be no person who was not born on some day.

So something so common should also be very easy right? Well, I am sure every mother will have a different story to tell you about that. You will also find that it is a different story with every one of their children.

After waiting for around 9 months, when any parents in the world are waiting for their little one's arrival, it does not matter what dreams and expectations they have woven for their child since the time of conception. At that critical moment most parents pray only for one thing. A healthy and a happy baby!

Unfortunately, not all parents are as lucky. There are so called ‘congenital’ diseases (diseases which occur at or before the birth of a baby), many of which are of the heart. Babies are born with half of a functional heart. The cause? Different kinds of Congenital Heart Defects like Complex Pulmonary Atresia, Tricuspid Atresia, Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS), Double Inlet or Outlet Ventricle etc.

Finding it hard to pronounce the names? Believe me; the names are definitely far less complicated than the actual conditions.

Discovering that your baby has a complicated heart problem can be extremely frightening for most parents. I can only imagine what it feels like to send your baby on to the operating table even before you can cuddle her to your heart’s content.

Although medical technology has advanced so much more than before and you have got the best hospitals , the questions like "What would happen if something goes wrong?" or "Why us God? ", crosses almost every parent’s mind.

In these situations of stress, it is of immense help to talk to somebody who has faced the same type of situation as only they would understand the true extent of pain. Support and advice on all possible things like what symptoms to watch out for after the baby is born, what lifestyle changes can help towards a quicker recovery would bring new rays of hope and strength.

This month I would like to donate 20 £ to the charity “Little Hearts Matter” who provide a variety of help to the parents of children born with half a heart. With their support and advice service, 7 day a week helpline, contribution to the field of research and an active group of parents facing similar situations, the charity really makes the lives of thousands of parents much less stressful.

Link to the charity website

http://www.lhm.org.uk/Default.aspx

Link to the online donation option

http://www.lhm.org.uk/Info/donate-104.aspx

Sponsor a child's education for one year

2011-10-27T05:25:00.000-07:00

Dropping my son to the nursery, my thoughts led to my own school days. Oh how beautiful they were! Getting the first bike on a birthday, having a best friend, raising a hand (sometimes both hands!) when you knew the answer to a question in class, having a favorite teacher, sharing lunch boxes, giggling on the backbenches and when the exams came, waking up all night just because you get to taste coffee from your mom who is full of sympathy for you. (Otherwise it was always the Bournvita with milkJ). No matter what happened on any day, they were just filled with fun and adventure.

When the school started every year, there was the joy in buying new school uniforms, the curiosity of who the new teachers would be and the mesmerizing smell of new shoes, notebooks and text books.

When the school term would end, there was fun there too in the many things to do in holidays like watching lots of movies, go visit relatives ,reading story books or just go on picnics with friends. (These days its playing Xbox or learning computer languagesJ , but fun changes with time. Doesn’t it?)

You may have a similar story as mine or different but you surely must have enjoyed the way it was. Even if you had not enjoyed it a lot, Is it not a crucial part of where you are today?

I wondered how many children do not have the beautiful experiences of a school life in India and found that in 2011, the literacy rate is 74.4%. It does seems to be improving each year, but it’s still a long way to go if you want to stop so many other problems associated with it like exploitation, unemployment, overpopulation, poverty and other limits imposed on even a very talented person, only because of not having a basic primary education.

This month I would like to donate to an Indian charity Sanskriti Sanvardhan Mandal which works very hard in the rural education sector. In just 3000 INR, a child would get education, school uniforms, books, medical checkup, nutritional supplements and sports equipments for a whole year.

Below is the link to the online donation option

http://www.giveindia.org/p-3779-sponsor-a-childs-education-for-one-year.aspx#

Below is the link to the charity website

http://www.ssmandal.net/

Set of clothes and three months ration for a poor elderly person

2011-09-20T04:44:00.000-07:00

I appreciate today how important the elderly are in our society. Through their experience over the years spent on this earth they are really one of the biggest contributors for a stronger and happier society. Nature herself teaches us that age demands dignity and honor. The older the redwoods, the more majestic they look, the older wines and cheeses are, the more they are praised and honored for taste.

Chat with a grand pa for an hour and you will get all the wisdom of the world. Tell a grand ma about any of your aches/ colds / fevers /stomach upsets and she will give you the best home remedies. To me these remedies chased away, whatever I had, faster than any other doctor’s prescription.

The young may think the elderly do not have any feelings and may try to hurt them, but many a times, I have seen that they have become so powerful from inside that they continue to love us regardless of our treatment to them.

The sad thing is despite being so kind and helpful they are often one of the most vulnerable ones in the society. Hence, this month I would like to donate to the charity “Village Development Centre” in India. In just 1400 INR you can sponsor a set of clothes and three months ration for a poor elderly person.

Link to online donation option ->

http://www.giveindia.org/p-4135-sponsor-a-set-of-clothes-and-three-months-ration-for-a-poor-elderly-person.aspx

Link to the charity website ->

http://www.vdcindia.org/

With all the things that the elderly offered, this is just a token of my deepest gratitude for them.

Emergency Food Basket - one family for one month

2011-08-04T04:39:00.000-07:00

I realised today that I don't always thank god or rather thank god enough for not having to worry about where my next meal is going to come from.

Today I do that with all my heart and I also thank him to have given me enough to help a family have their meals for another month.

My charity of this month is "Save the Children" to the cause "Emergency Food Basket". With only 20 £ a family will be able to have a month’s supply of food.

Below is the link to the donation link.

http://shop.savethechildren.org.uk/product/family-food-basket/

Below is the link to the charity website
http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/

I hope that they enjoy the meals and May God keep them happy and healthy!