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Umanga blogs

TOWARDS HEALING

4/28/2015

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We in Nepal today are injured people.  Some through bodily damage, many through the loss of loved ones, and many more through the loss of property; and we continue to struggle with the fear of ongoing aftershocks.

We have lost much.  But not all.  And to heal, we must get in touch with that portion of our lives that is not yet broken. What is not broken? 1. Solidarity in our community and 2. Relief response from well wishers.

  1. We are alive with care.  We are committed not only to protecting ourselves, but also to helping others. Can the media cover these stories of the community coming together to volunteer and help each other (and not only of human insecurities and pettiness which, too, can come as a shock response)?
  2. We are cared for.  Well wishers have sent prayers and help, and aid workers are busy with activities.  Can the media highlight these stories of sincere and transparent efforts? Sure, there are corrupt people everywhere, and they have received ample media coverage in the past .  This time, can we focus on successful stories of sincere individuals, activists and aid workers?           ​
Some ideas to consider
  1. For media: Publish a list of shops that will pledge not to hoard to create artificial shortages and price hikes  of essential goods (those who pledge should be open to transparency ie. verification through citizen inspection).  Publish a list of volunteers or groups with pledge-specific resources and skills they can provide (those who pledge should be open to transparency).  And publish a list of PR persons from aid agencies and their specific mandates (the PR persons should be willing to engage transparently in a public forum).  Most importantly, in choosing your editorials and content , consider how you might be able to facilitate healing. 
  2. For volunteers: Solve a problem and respond to a cry for help.  Or else, it may be better not to volunteer. 
  3. For donors:  Money does not solve a problem, though it may serve well if used towards the right idea.  In corrupt or ineffective hands, it becomes counter-productive.  Hence, do more than just give money, communicate!
  4. For Nepali people:   We are shaken up not just by the earthquake, but by the uncertainty and fear from the unending series of aftershocks.   In this, like in the case of how to manage relief-work, we have much to learn from the  Haiti earthquake., where the largest aftershock came 8 days after the main earthquake.  We should expect these aftershocks with a sense of relief that they will fade out eventually.  Do not let these aftershocks make us even more vulnerable to gossip and fear. In summary, let me borrow an old jehudi saying - let us have the courage to change what can be changed, the humility to accept what cannot be changed, and the wisdom to know the difference.
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SO YOU WANT TO VOLUNTEER? DON't I!

4/28/2015

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Kehi Garoun has been promoting volunteering for 9 years.  It is ironic that now, during the aftermath of the earthquakes, we are suggesting that you probably should NOT volunteer IF you fall into any of the categories below:
  1. You feel that you are lucky to have survived, and feel guilty that you are not out there doing something.  You are probably with family members who are in shock, and may be in need of help themselves.  Yet, in your youthful burst of energy, you want to go outside...looking for people who are worse-off than your family.
  2. You are helping people who are able to help themselves.  In Kathmandu, people have spent days and nights in public spaces, seeking refuge in open, flat ground.  They have defecated in the open and thrown trash everywhere.  Many of them are having picnics and playing card games.  They are able-bodied people...yet you are willing to clean their trash.   
  3. You are itching to be involved in the relief efforts, and do not want to wait until it becomes clear what you should do.  You don't have not the patience or knowledge to know how you can be of help.  You want to jump onto a bandwagon...any wagon will do.

There are valid reasons to volunteer, and they are pretty obvious in a way. You SHOULD volunteer if you fall into the either of the two categories below:
  1. You are called upon by someone in need.  For example - a neighbour needs your help to move to safety.  You need not be 'asked' per se, but the situation makes it obvious that any one who is able, should help out. 
  2. You are compelled to initiate a solution.  You see a problem that needs to be solved.  Not out of guilt, or external pressure, and definitely not for social recognition, you find yourself compelled to solve a specific problem.  In that case, we salute your effort - go be the change!
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"TRADE, NOT AID" - A PERSPECTIVE FROM A CHARITY WORKING TO PROVIDE RELIEF IN NEPAL AFTER THE APRIL 25TH EARTHQUAKE

4/27/2015

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We are a charity organization working in Nepal where 7000+ people lost their lives to the April 25th earthquakes.  Yet, we say don't give aid.  Why?  
We are running a fund-raising campaign. Yet, we say don't give aid. Why?

Why not aid?
Reason 1:  Aid crowds out Individual Enterprise.
We live in a rented house.  The landlord is a 70 year old man, an ex-bureaucrat, who is in better health than I am.  The earthquakes demolished the boundary walls of our building.   On the second day after the quakes, he started rebuilding the walls.  What do you think would have happened if he had seen young volunteers in blue caps and yellow jackets going around building walls for free in our neighbourhood?  He would have waited his turn for the free service.  His 'individual enterprise' and his spirit of self-initiative would have given way to the hope that the volunteers would come around to build his wall.  Aid discourages self-initiative. 

Reason 2: Aid symbolically defeats incentive to resume daily life.
My wife and I have a toddler, who recently started drinking fresh cow's milk.  A lady in our neighbourhood owns two cows and she brings fresh cow's milk to our doorstep every morning.  The morning after the earthquake, shocked and tired as we were, we were further worried that we would not have cow's milk for the baby.  But the milk arrived just as usual.  The lady, praise the lord, had gone about her daily business, despite her share of difficulties.  What's more, our house-help arrived at 8am sharp, even though her own house had collapsed in the earthquake and her family was living outside in a makeshift tent.  These two ladies were my heroes, not because they were there to help me, but because they showed great resilience in picking up their lives so quickly after the catastrophe.  Would they have come if their neighbourhood was teeming with  relief-aid agents and hand-out delivery trucks?  Aid makes a 'symbolic' imprint on human psychology that the crisis is 'too large for us to surmount on our own', and that the crisis is still ongoing.  This discourages people from picking up the broken pieces and rebuilding their lives.

To be fair, there are exceptions to every rule.  In the case being made against Aid, there are two exceptions:
1. Short-term-Relief or Humanitarian Aid  is useful when urgent needs clearly overwhelm/disrupt market supply.  Relief, however, should be strictly time-bound (transparency and procedural documentation is too onerous here, and should not be demanded as it slows relief work).  Relief should happen for 2-4 weeks, and then be come to an end.  After the Haiti earthquakes, food was subsidized for so long that it all but killed the food-market, and the subsidy was eventually lifted.   People get used to easy-solutions.  People are tempted by free hand-outs.  Aid is sticky, and like band-aid, it should be pulled out quickly.
2. Longer-term-Reconstruction (usually multi-lateral) Aid should be totally transparent and should be based on SMART goals.  T in SMART stands for time-bound.  Hence, this aid should also expire with a clear time-line.  These aid amounts are large, and tempt even ordinarily law-abiding officials.  Hence, procedural documentation and transparency are a must. 

If one can meet these criteria (for example, in Kehi Garoun's case, we would), aid is fine.  But unfortunately, aid usually does not follow the above criteria.  Most aid that comes during a catastrophe is emotionally charged, and aimed for short-term relief.  It stays underused, gets lumped together with longer-term projects, falls through the cracks and eventually disappears. 

So, we stick to the rule 'Trade, not Aid'.

Why Trade?
A close friend of ours and her toddler were planning to visit us next month from another country.  We were looking forward to our kids meeting for the first time, and meeting her after a long time.  After the earthquakes, she cancelled her trip, saying she did not want to burden the already stretched situation both in our home as well as in our country.  We were bummed.  Her visit would have boosted our morale.  And for the ailing economy, where tourism is a mainstay, this was a regrettable loss of economic activity.   Economic activity is a healing balm...it solves problems.   Let me give an example.  Two days ago, we ran out of drinking water and food.  We asked our neighbours, and they too did not have much to spare.  So, we did what grief-stricken people usually do - we went shopping! 

The first store was run by a mother-daughter team.  When I asked for bottled water, the teenage-daughter started to go to the back of the store until her mother sharply responded, 'we don't have any water.'  The daughter was confused for a micro-second and then understood that the mother wanted to hoard.  'Great lesson to teach her daughter!  That's her punishment enough', I consoled myself.  In the next store, the shop keeper gave us six bottles of water, no fuss!  That was a balm to our worry.  We ended up buying much more than water, and that was a balm to his worry, perhaps.

Later in the trip, as we were out of bread, we tried a few stores but in vain.  Regular deliveries had not been made for three days and we made peace with that.  But then we recalled that there was a new bakery in our neighbourhood.  The owner was an excitable self-starter.  Not only was his store open, he told us he would bake us fresh bread and that we should come back in an hour.  We did, to two large loaves, freshly off the oven.  Our problem was solved. 

Trade, or rather, economic transaction, makes each party better off (or else, why would they do it?).  And that is what we need, whether or not we have earthquakes. 

In conclusion, some advice:

To fellow-survivors: Please just buy the damn food/water from the stores.  If you don't have the money, borrow from friends.  Don't wait for aid.   If you don't have shops, come to the market place where there are shops.  Of course, if you are injured and can't travel, you may have to ask your friends/families.   I am not prescribing this to anyone in extremely dire circumstances (lone survivor of a family who is in the ICU for example) ...but I am pretty sure, most people are not in such dire circumstances.  And to them, I have one last suggestion - please go back to your daily lives, to your work, to your schools.   The government's announcement to stay out of your houses kept you exiled from your safe homes for 72 hours needlessly; please don't let other experts or your own fears keep you from your productive lives any longer.  Get back to the rhythm of your life!

To well-wishers here and abroad:  Please see if we are able to 'buy' or 'borrow' before you forward alms to us.  And do please help us find business deals, locate people who want to buy Nepali architectural artefacts from broken buildings that we can sell, or sell make-shift furniture that I need to buy.  If you are so inclined, find that movie-director who needs a real set to shoot his next Armageddon movie or that CEO of the firm that sells cholera-curing pills and mobile toilets who is scouting for their next big market.  What ever you do, don't tell us to leave Nepal and join our relatives abroad.  Just the opposite, ask the relatives to come visit us, and when they do, to bring us chocolates and wine....for wine, my friends, is all gone, thanks to the earthquakes!

So, please, give us trade, not aid (except, wine, of course)!
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COMMUNICATE FIRST, GIVE LATER!

4/27/2015

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So you wish to help people who have suffered through a catastrophe? 

  1. Avoid unsolicited help.  "The wave of unsolicited and poorly planned shipments....was the second disaster,"  as per this well argued opinion (earthquake-nepal-dont-rush-help-volunteers-aid).  The author's suggestion is to donate money.  We say - wait, don't give money.
  2. Enable people, don't just give money.  Giving money is easy if you are rich or you feel guilty, and it has massive corrupting tendencies.  Sure, money is necessary, but it is not sufficient.   What is more productive, and less corrupting, is to spend time connecting and communicating with people on the ground who are working on ideas that make sense to you.  If giving money through large agencies was effective, 8000+ people would not have died out of cholera after the Haiti earthquake.  Please spend some time asking yourself which ideas you wish to enable, not just which aid-agency's plea is in your inbox!
  3. Adding the above two points together, if you want to help - spend time finding and talking to people on the ground.  Ask them what help they need.   Do this until your heart knows clearly whom to give to.   Until then, keep your money to yourself so that it does not become counter-productive.  Until then, let this 'need to help' keep stirring in your heart so that it may find a more deserving outlet!
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REBUILDING AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE

4/27/2015

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KG's response to the earthquake is two fold:
  1. Short Term Coordination: One of the primary things that needs to be done after a disaster of this scale is to coordinate the linkage of resources (volunteers, goods, money) to the proper distribution channels, so that aid reaches those in need.  KG staff and volunteers are available to coordinate any relief work.   If you are aware of anyone looking for such coordination support, please contact us. 
  2. Long Term Rebuilding: Many children have died or been wounded from collapsed buildings. Schools, in particular government schools which are resource-poor, have suffered heavy damages from Saturday's earthquake. KG will work to ensure that all of the 25 government schools in its network will be structurally sound so that students do not have to go to an unsafe school.  In the next 10 days, we will have structural engineers/architects survey the damage in these schools.   If the buildings are unsafe, we will work with the schools to find alternative teaching spaces.  Later in the year, we will work with donors and government agencies to help construct safer classrooms and toilets for these students.  If you would like to finance this effort to rebuild schools, contact us.

May 05, 2015: In reference to point "1. Short Term Coordination" above, please note that KG is no longer involved with co-ordination of relief efforts/ resources. ​
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  • Home
  • Mental Health
  • School Supplies
    • Stationery Campaign
    • Sweaters Campaign
    • Shoe Campaign
  • Self-Help Toolkit
    • Counseling Help
    • Meditation
    • Guidance Resources
    • Reflections
  • About KG
    • Teachers Circle
    • Contact KG
    • Pledge Donate