Hi Prasanthi, It was a great job by all those who have worked including the donors, for the relief effort. It is not easy to manage such kind of efforts when there is so much of devastation that happened.
In such a scenario 70% is a huge success, i know that we aim for the highest 100% but practically in these situations achieving 70% is tremendous effort. Without so much of ground work and planning it wouldnt have reached even 50%. Great job guys, that was terrific. There is nothing to be sad about not making it 100%, at the end of the day the material reached the distressed, may be some of them are well off.. thats ok. We need to give ourselves a bit of leverage here :). Its good that we have certain lessons learnt and also we made impression in the people over there. They would recognize those who were their on the ground and associate certain credibility for our efforts. Now that we have made this much of effort, we need to see how to elevate these people from being dependent to self sustained. You said most of them were farmers and now do not have anything to do, we need to check what resources are available nearby to this village and how can we create opportunities out of it.. So lets focus our energies in such a kind of thought process and may be collaborate with some of the small scale industries if required and create revenue options, so that they can work from their homes and earn some income. I will start my research from mid december on this, for those who cannot involve directly on ground we can support the members on the field by researching on such options and digging our contacts and see how we can make this a reality. Success stories are not made by just dreaming, we need to make that extra effort to make the dream a reality. Hope to listen from you all on what options can we provide for these people to be self sustained. Remember that we dont have to provide a solution for all the villagers... we put forth all our ideas and see how best we can utilise each of those. Definitely there would be a lot of counseling required for these people to come out of their comfort zone start something afresh. We can make a huge difference in their lives, this is a great opportunity for every one of us to make that difference. Especially with such a great team on-field, we need to utilize all the efforts they have made. Best wishes, Chaitanya :) On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 10:22 AM, Prasanthi Uppalapati < [email protected]> wrote: > > > Friends, > > This is about our visit to Alampur: Though it seems a very big mail to you, > I didn't pen what all I wanted to share about my experience and thoughts. It > happens. If we do not share immediately, we end up losing track and we get > busy and will not have enough strength and time to share. (This is true in > my case). As it is getting delayed to give an update, I decided to close > this today at any cost. > > In a nut shell, I can say that Relief (monetary or material support) does > not serve any purpose. It neither offers any hope nor serves their needs. > > Lessons Learnt > > 1. If you want to offer any help, offer to the entire village (place) but > not to few families. Even if it is just a spoon or mug, that is fine. Never > think of offering enough help only to selected families. > > 2. The place from where you distribute should be completely enclosed, there > should not be any way open for others to throng. > > We could distribute only 450 to 475 kits as planned. Remaining 225 were > grabbed. So everyone of us were completely disappointed. We know that 100% > perfection can never be achieved but still we were very much depressed for > various reasons. > > Execution > > The reason why we decided on Alampur was that it was completely devastated > and we thought we could do something there and to them. Why we thought of > extending help to so many families was that we visited and spoken to them > and it created some hope. We want to offer our help and there by gain their > confidence and then work on providing livelihood opportunities and other > stuff. > > As distributing coupons going to each house would take time, we got the > details through mail (ration card list) and then prepared coupons for each > street. We gave a call to the representative of each street, asked them to > distribute to the dwellers of their street and also suggested them to come > in specified time. > > Meanwhile we requested the Montessory school Headmaster to provide us an > enclosure so that people cannot encircle us. We got a very good place > wherein there are two gates and we have our volunteers at both the gates. > Based on the Headmaster's suggestion, we even requested police to come in > (was not interested though personally). Two to three constables came. > Everything was going on as planned though the Brahmana veedhi dwellers were > late and the delay did impact to a certain extent. > > The only loophole was that there was no gate on the third side and people > (specially of Akbarpet) came and began to make noise. These people blocked > the place and there was no option for the actual coupon holders to come and > collect the kits. The Akbarpet dwellers did not budge no matter how well we > convinced them. Even the Principal/Correspondent came and tried to control > to some extent. I tried Gandhigiri also (many of our volunteers didn't like > it and were angry on me). I wanted to see if this works. It was like 50-50. > They listened to only one statement of my request but not the other one > which was crucial. > > At last people boarded the van and grabbed the material. We could save some > material that was there in another van. > > Observations > > 1. Literally everyone requested for help saying that they too lost > everything and are not getting any help. > > a. School workers (even the Headmaster asked if we are interested to help > them. Around 23 workers are there) and watchman > > b. Police constables who came to help us in distribution > > c. The doctor who works in the govt. hospital also sent a person to ask for > help for her staff. I spoke to her over phone and she said that even she too > has lost her property. > > 2. I was shocked by the nature of the people as I really didn't expect it > from them. > > a. They are fine even if we go back without distributing to anyone. Give to > all of us or go. We do not mind. Even if it is a spoon, give to everyone. > > 3. Not every person was so.......!! > > a. Many people heeded to my request and they understood when I explained. I > told them we are not from government nor we from any big trust. Within our > limits we are doing and we will keep coming to Alampur regularly and visit > them too. > > 4. Miscreants > > I feel the people who did the mischief came there for mischief only. They > also would have suffered no doubt in that. Almost every person and family in > that village got affected but not everyone behaves so. > > 5. Greediness > > After the exercise, some of us went to meet the Correspondent to thank him > for the support. He reiterated that we have to give to everyone otherwise > give to PDS (Public Distribution System). When it comes to greediness he > stated that the people who are rich grab lands and yearn to earn more and > more and when compared to them these people who have lost everything were > not greedy at all. > > 6. Less scope for livelihood > > According to the correspondent, the people here have very less scope for > livelihood. Most of them are agricultural labourers and petty shop owners. > > What Next? > > To be frank, I have no clue. Being discouraged and depressed enough by the > fact that Rs. 4,50,000 and the entire effort has gone waste, I do not have a > clear cut idea as of now on what to do next. I want to do something concrete > to them directly or proxy as I promised help. (I also want to express my > thanks to all the volunteers who supported. In fact, I feel very proud of > their attitude. Everyone wanted to keep their promise. Though I know Kiran > Anumalasetty since May this year, never get an opportunity to discuss with > him. The discussion we had while writing coupons made me understand what he > is. Till then I didn't know that he has such a depth and authority on life, > philosophy, education etc., I felt very happy for the interaction. We have > such wonderful people around and if we do not optimally utilize our > strengths, we would definitely be culprits. We are not exploring and > utilizing our collective strength in required manner.) > > (This is not to boast but only to weigh the return of investment, Satya and > I kept leave on Thursday to purchase the items. Giri garu joined us in the > evening. On Friday, Satya and Giri garu purchased the items. Eleven of us > were awake all through the night to pack, to write coupons etc., We planned > very well and executed well too. Only thing is we didn't care about the > worst case scenario though being warned by some of the localites and > volunteers. I had so much of trust that I want to see it for myself if they > really grab when we go with such a good plan and convince them of our > motive.) > > Anyway, if this exercise goes well probably I would never learn the lesson > that I learnt now. I am never going to participate in any relief effort with > monetary support. All the effort should go into rehabilitation and > motivating the people there and if possible, offer enough guidance. We > didn't aim this exercise for relief but as the first step of rehabilitation. > > > Advantages > > 1. The support from Montessory school Principal and Headmaster. They > mentioned that if we inform them before hand they are ready to give their > place to us for any livelihood initiative. > > (As I understand if not on Sunday, other days it would disturb the > children) > > 2. Members of many streets know about us now and it would not be like > starting from scratch. They very well know that what they did was wrong. > > (Kiran Anumalasetty spoke with some of the villagers there. I felt very > amused (as I didn't know what to feel also) by their response. We hate our > attitude but can't help. We only look for external help. Though we know that > what we are doing is wrong, we wish to do. If we do not come and pick, it is > only that we do not have enough strength to grab. We cannot sit idle if > someone comes and distribute the kits) > > 3. Good rapport with authorities > > One senior journalist, Usha, volunteered to introduce us to Damayanti garu, > collector of Mehboob Nagar, as she has good rapport with her. Once we chalk > out a plan or come up with any ideas, may be we can meet her and take her > advice and support. Anjaneya Sarma garu is also cooperative. > > Challenges > > 1. Gaining their confidence and convincing them to stand on their own. > 2. The place being far and we could go only on alternate weekends. We do > not have enough volunteers to distribute the task and see to that some of us > visit Alampur every weekend. > > -- > Thank you. > > with regards, > PRASANTHI. > http://groups.google.com/group/birdsofsamefeathers > ---- > When you want something, the whole universe conspires in helping you to > achieve it. > >
