St. Jude's Community VI parishoners of St. Joseph's Parish, Goregaon East, had been planning a trip to an NGO for about a month. A. Agnes and me finally decided that we'd better best get going before the kids begin their exams and the year was up.
One of the most amazing things about giving back to society is getting nothing "material" back in return. Everything you take back is a learning - from free smiles, unmitigated happiness and a soothing calm which comes over you, because you know you gave without expecting to be rewarded.
The NGO we narrowed down is known as Dreamz Home, and you can visit their website to know more - http://www.dreamzhome.org/
It's a small home run by people with big hearts. With a focus on rehabilitation and recreation, they have a home for girls, boys and the elderly. Since the home for girls was in our area, which was surprising since I'd never heard of an orphanage in our woods. So we had 25 girls - from about 3 years to 17 years of age who lived in this orphanage and we were told to get them a small kit - make it personal so that they will have memories of you.
We spent a week going house to house collecting funds from people from our community only. We have about 50 houses from Community VI A, B and C and we collected a princely sum of Rs 7,000 which was stellar! Next was to narrow down what we were going to buy with the money.
Our list for each personalised kit included:
- Toothbrush
- Towel
- Shampoo
- Soap
- Coconut Oil
- Powder
We also ended up buying notebooks, pens, pencils, sharpeners, erasers, sketches, and rulers (25 of each product). The most kindest things come in large surprises as the shop keeper was kind enough to give us huge discounts on all our bulk items and even the book store owner dropped costs by over Rs400 because I ran out of funds and told him so. He knew it was going for a good cause and also probably also because we've become friends that he gave us this good deal.
Anyway - about 20 people from the community came and we spent a beautiful two hours singing songs for them, they for us, danced, played 'Passing the teddy' and even did a brilliant round of Antakshari.
I have to mention the hilarious part during Antakshari - So these kids are all singing hindi songs which I have no clue whatsoever and then it was our turn and the word was "Hu" - so they all looked at each other and I suddenly went - Hum dono hain alag alag hum dono hain juda juda.... and silence... no one knew this song! I actually went - WHHHAATTT!!! I know this and you guys don't! I know it's before your time and all but STILLLLL!!! Dayum... So for the first time in history I sang a full Hindi song... Mein Khiladi tu Anari...
Bahahahahahaha! Classic Chelsea moment.
Then there was another one where the word was "Ba" and I started Baa Baa Black Sheep have you any wool... and they sportingly accepted the song and even sang along :P
Anyway, all's well that ends well and I'm feeling lightened by that moment knowing we did a good thing today, no matter how small it may seem. Materialistic charity and cheque books help but taking the trouble to be a face behind those gifts is what kids and elders want and I can't emphasise that enough that we all should do more if we want to eradicate social evils plaguing the earth.
It all starts in our own backyard - when will you step out and smell the air?
 |
| We were doing an action song called "He's got the whole world, in his hands" |
The NGO we narrowed down is known as Dreamz Home, and you can visit their website to know more - http://www.dreamzhome.org/
It's a small home run by people with big hearts. With a focus on rehabilitation and recreation, they have a home for girls, boys and the elderly. Since the home for girls was in our area, which was surprising since I'd never heard of an orphanage in our woods. So we had 25 girls - from about 3 years to 17 years of age who lived in this orphanage and we were told to get them a small kit - make it personal so that they will have memories of you.
We spent a week going house to house collecting funds from people from our community only. We have about 50 houses from Community VI A, B and C and we collected a princely sum of Rs 7,000 which was stellar! Next was to narrow down what we were going to buy with the money.
Our list for each personalised kit included:
- Toothbrush
 |
| We will come again! *Promise* |
- Shampoo
- Soap
- Coconut Oil
- Powder
We also ended up buying notebooks, pens, pencils, sharpeners, erasers, sketches, and rulers (25 of each product). The most kindest things come in large surprises as the shop keeper was kind enough to give us huge discounts on all our bulk items and even the book store owner dropped costs by over Rs400 because I ran out of funds and told him so. He knew it was going for a good cause and also probably also because we've become friends that he gave us this good deal.
Anyway - about 20 people from the community came and we spent a beautiful two hours singing songs for them, they for us, danced, played 'Passing the teddy' and even did a brilliant round of Antakshari.
I have to mention the hilarious part during Antakshari - So these kids are all singing hindi songs which I have no clue whatsoever and then it was our turn and the word was "Hu" - so they all looked at each other and I suddenly went - Hum dono hain alag alag hum dono hain juda juda.... and silence... no one knew this song! I actually went - WHHHAATTT!!! I know this and you guys don't! I know it's before your time and all but STILLLLL!!! Dayum... So for the first time in history I sang a full Hindi song... Mein Khiladi tu Anari...
Bahahahahahaha! Classic Chelsea moment.
Then there was another one where the word was "Ba" and I started Baa Baa Black Sheep have you any wool... and they sportingly accepted the song and even sang along :P
Anyway, all's well that ends well and I'm feeling lightened by that moment knowing we did a good thing today, no matter how small it may seem. Materialistic charity and cheque books help but taking the trouble to be a face behind those gifts is what kids and elders want and I can't emphasise that enough that we all should do more if we want to eradicate social evils plaguing the earth.
It all starts in our own backyard - when will you step out and smell the air?
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