Indian Writing

I have long been a believer in recycling as a partial solution to the problems of plenty* and deprivation, and I have written about Goonj before. Anshu Gupta of Goonj mails me with the following update:

- With the onset of monsoons another session of devastating floods has arrived. We urgently seek your involvement in our annual campaign, Rahat Floods, to reach flood victims across the country. Details of materials required and implementation strategy here. Collection centres here.

- A long cherished dream to get the rural and urban children of S2S (School to School) partner schools, to meet each other, was realized in April this year. Pratibimb, a three day interface event of urban-rural kids, finally materialized when children from 8 villages in U.P, Bihar, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu and from 15 schools in Delhi and NCR congregated in Delhi. GOONJ’s rural partners worked very hard to convince parents to send their children on what was, for most of them, their first journey outside their villages. Details here.

- With the fast spread of S2S (School to School), there is a corresponding increase in demand for school material. This calls for a more intensified campaign in schools and other educational institutions for which we seek volunteers. You can also sponsor our cost effective recycled (cloth & paper) mats and notebooks for rural/slum schools. More details here.

- GOONJ is all set to participate in the second Delhi Half Marathon. This is a big opportunity for us not only for raising funds but also as a major platform for spreading the message. You can support GOONJ by becoming a part of the Dream Team, Corporate Challenge, Group (Pledgers united) or as an individual. People from all over the world can support this initiative. Please write back with your queries.

- Sanitary napkins: An informal group of NRIs in Singapore-Focus India Forum provides partial support for this initiative. Every individual who can afford to is urged to commit at least one metre of cotton cloth to GOONJ every month. Please do think of rural girls and women who are otherwise forced to use the worst available rags or even sand/ash for this purpose. More details here.

- Tsunami wastage as resource: With the support of Deutsche Bank, we have now set up a workshop where we are converting this waste cloth into hundreds of clean cloth sanitary napkins and school bags. Details here.

- Goonj is looking for 600 people to join the team. If you have the time and energy to spare, you might be able to support this worthwhile project. Please read this and this.

Anshu’s email lists what is URGENTLY required:

# Operational support in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata & Bangalore – About 200 to 300 Sq. Ft. space, some office infrastructure and small financial support as seed money to initiate action in these cities.

# Vehicle requirement in Delhi & Mumbai - To intensify our campaign in these two 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.

# Office automation equipment (New/old) - old/new printers and photo-copying machine.

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* Especially when you read something like this Mumbai Mirror chat with Sushma Reddy, where she says that she has too many clothes just lying around in her cupboard:

“I don’t spend much on clothes. At the most, Rs 20,000 is the most I am willing to spend every month on clothes,” she says. And what about the outfits she has worn more than once? “I don’t wear the same dress again so I give it away to my friends. Some clothes have been lying in the cupboard for years.”