Goonj, Mumbai : Newsletter for April 2007
Dear Friends,
A cold winter morning of 2007, about 30 kms from Patna, I was in Gidhdha, a village of Moosahari’s, a 35-lakh strong community spread across Bihar, known for eating even rats in dire circumstances of poverty & survival.
We were with people who often dig a hole in the nights to make their kids sleep and cover them with dry grass to save them from the cold. This is a place where women tell you that they don’t use ANYTHING during menses, and they can’t take a bath because there is NOTHING to change…
We felt criminal, wearing sweaters and jackets. For every person who dies because of cold and for every woman who goes through a bad phase without a piece of cloth, we found ourselves answerable
not because it’s our doing but because we are not doing enough.
I remembered a radio channel holding hundreds of sweaters because they wanted a celebrity to hand it over to us and they were not getting dates. I remembered corporates who didn’t send material to us because after collection they were waiting for the right moment to organize an event to do it. I also thought of millions of individuals who keep the material with them in search of a real needy or waiting for a disaster
Don’t you agree that for people who roam around naked in peak winters or die because of cold, winters are a much bigger annual disaster than earthquake or floods? For millions of women, even menses is a monthly disaster if they are forced to roam around even without a piece of cloth to use as a napkin.
We have decided to do something; every year in addition to our present role, we will take up 100 villages and ensure that no one in these villages remains without clothes. That means generating over 1,00,000 kgs of extra material every year. In 2007, we will do this for 100 such villages of Bihar and it has already started from Gidhha, the village I mentioned earlier.
If you understand the seriousness of this issue then I’m sure we will able to go way beyond this commitment. By simply giving us any unwanted cloth you have in your wardrobe, you can change the realities for these people.
Do visit http://www.goonj.info/clothincentive.php to see some realities.
Work on it. Open up your mind. Make some efforts
More on our activities in the Newsletter..
Happy reading !!
Anshu
(Do circulate this mail to all the people you know and if you don’t want to receive this communication in future, kindly let us know
)
Activities Highlight:
* GOONJ’s initiative ‘Not just a piece of cloth’ has made it to the final round of World Bank’s Development Marketplace competition. We are one of the finalists out of 2900 entries from across the globe. The winners will be declared in May after detailed presentations to the World Bank. For more information Click Here
* Clothing 100 villages in Bihar: Everyone reading this mail is requested to organize at least one collection camp in your own colony or work place to help generate more material for this campaign. We will be there to provide all logistical, communication and manpower support to organize these camps. YOU just need to take a small initiative and it will make a BIG difference.
* Clothing recognized as an issue- Well-known development sector website Indianngos.com has become the first website to register clothing in the list of development issues. For the last eight years GOONJ has been campaigning for the same in the development sector. Refer http://indianngos.com/issue/clothing/index.html
* GOONJ completes 8 years: On 18th Feb this year, GOONJ celebrated its eighth birthday with a well-attended get together. A wide variety of people from the corporate sector, development sector, volunteers, teachers, shared their experiences and thoughts about GOONJ and its activities. The get together was followed by a fundraising sale for the residents of Sarita Vihar.
* Urban Schools Meet: Giving a stronger driving force to S2S programme, GOONJ organized a meeting of its urban partner schools, on 29th January. The informal open forum design of the meeting facilitated a lot of discussions and sharing of ideas among the school representatives and GOONJ. For more information, please refer- http://www.goonj.info/schoolreport07.php
* PRATIBIMB 2007: Preparations for this annual S2S event (rural urban school children interface) are in full swing. Kids from the villages all over the country will be with us in Delhi for 5 days. It is a unique opportunity to learn about their extraordinary courage against immense adversity. For more event related details & volunteer opportunities, call us today and for report on last years event, refer- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/06/south_asia_children_discover_delhi0s_wonders/html/1.stm
* Donations from abroad- If you are staying outside India and want to support GOONJ. Send a cheque/draft/wire transfer in the name of GOONJ or click any of these links to support through Global Giving (all donations get the tax benefits). http://www.globalgiving.com/pr/1700/proj1628a.html , http://www.globalgiving.com/pr/1700/proj1627a.html , http://www.globalgiving.com/pr/1400/proj1331a.html
* Team 600- Join the team and support GOONJ in becoming a self-sufficient organisation. http://www.goonj.info/team-600.php
* RAHAT Winters: With the temperatures touching 3-4 degrees, throughout January and early February, night distribution of woolens and blankets on Delhi roads was intensified by the volunteers as a part of our annual campaign RAHAT WINTERS .
* GOONJ.. Mumbai- HSBC is supporting GOONJ’s S2S programme in the city. Apart from Andheri, now we have a collection center in Navi Mumbai also. Please write to rohitgoonj1@gmail.com or call up Rohit on 9322381600.
* GOONJ.. Chennai- Over 3200 school bags, 20,000 napkins, thousands of meters of string & a number of products have already been made from the completely un-usable sorted cloth at the recycling unit employing 40 women . We are initiating School to school and other initiatives in the city now. For More info please write to solomongoonj@gmail.com or call up Mr. Solomon on 9444135172 and refer http://www.goonj.info/Tsunami%20Progress.php
* GOONJ Jalandhar: GOONJ’s S2S programme is spreading across various city schools. For More info please write to daljeetgoonj@gmail.com or call up Ms. Daljeet on 9815445635.
Your immediate support is needed:
(All donations to GOONJ are exempted u/s 80 G of IT act.)
* Vehicle requirement in Delhi, Mumbai & Chennai– To intensify our campaign in these metros, a vehicle for material pick up is still a major hindrance. If you have any ideas/contacts on this please write/call us at the earliest or help us generating funds for the same.
* Operational support in Mumbai & Chennai About 300 to 500 sq. ft. space, some office infrastructure & automation (old/new printers and photocopier) & small financial support as seed money for initial phase in Chennai.
* We are also looking for outlets/offices where we can place our small cash/ cheque drop boxes.
* Office automation equipment (New/old)- 2 computers & printers, one Laptop and photocopying machines.
* Large quantity of one-side-used-paper for making notebooks for rural school children & commitment of your monthly old newspapers to make GOONJ.. self-sustained.
* We are looking for reliable and active agencies, individuals and schools on the district level across the country to be trained and supported to replicate our model and systems on a micro level. We have already started this exercise in Jalandhar (Punjab), Nagpur & Amravati. Do write back if you would like to join us.
* Not just a piece of cloth- The napkin work is progressing well. Now with a support of Rs. 500/- to the project you can take care of the annual need of 5 women. The money is spent in procuring old bedsheets and in the making process.
Spread the message among your friends, colleagues & relations too. This will certainly make a big difference to the lives of women who are forced to use the worst available cloth or in some cases even sand/ash for this purpose.
For details – http://www.goonj.info/sanitary%20n apkins.php
* Please log on to the http://www.goonj.info/Volunteers.php get a list of activities in which your participation as a volunteer can play a critical role in the effective implementation of these activities.
Anshu K. Gupta ( Ashoka Fellow )
Founder -Director, GOONJ..
Tel.- (m)-98681-46978, (o)-011-26972351
Add-J-93, Sarita vihar, New Delhi-76
E-mail- anshu_goonj1@yahoo.co.in,anshugoonj24@gmail.com
Website- www.goonj.info
Forwarded by–
Rohit Singh.
Co-ordinator- GOONJ, Mumbai.
Tel.- 9322381600 or 9833237678.
Email – rohitgoonj1@gmail.com