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The charade of goodness

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by PujaInk, May 31, 2013.

  1. PujaInk

    PujaInk Bronze IL'ite

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    Some months ago a 'school' came up in my neighbourhood. That was just after an NGO, flush with foreign funds had set up a glitzy, poster studded office in the vicinity. The school was a great idea for the slum where it was set up. Essentially just a classroom with a single teacher, it gave children, who had been left out of the formal schooling system, a jab at getting some education and hopefully find their way to a proper school with help from this makeshift arrangement.

    In a short while, changes in the children could be marked. They began to look cleaner, became particular with their 'namaste's and no longer drummed up the racket they would normally do through the day. A little while later I noticed that many of them were doing odd jobs around the office-- mopping the floors, making tea for the staff, washing the dishes and even carrying shopping bags for the NGO head.

    My maid, whose son also attends the school, did not mind the trade off. She explained that in lieu of the 'free' education that her son was getting, it was perfectly alright for him to work at the office a couple of hours every day. Since the 8 year old did mop floors in another neighbour's home anyway, how difficult could it be to do the same in the office, she reasoned.

    The thought of the school having become a source of supply of free labour for the 'social workers' was appalling and repulsive to me. But argue as much as I would against it, my maid remained unconvinced about its unfairness. The fact that her son could now rattle off "A for Apple, B for Banana" and recite numbers from 1 to 20 made it worthwhile to her.

    Unwilling to let it be, I decided to confront the NGO boss-- a lady I had known vaguely for some years.

    "Oh, but you don't quite get it", was how the director dismissed my concerns. She pulled out a bulky folder with glossy pictures and short biographies of the children. She told me the organisation had the children's "long term interest" at heart and was looking at securing foreign sponsorship for them.

    "They will thank us for it", she said smugly.

    The enormity of the deception dawned on me just then. The school was a charade to secure foreign funding or to "build a field" in NGO parlance. A field of work ensures visibility and visibility ensures funds. The children were merely tiny cogs in that elaborate ruse. Though not a revelation to someone like me who has worked closely with the non government sector for many years and seen its warts, the ploy was repulsive because it made 'use' of little children who are connected to me in some ways through their parents.

    Thus far, I have failed to make the parents see through the 'school'. I had no answer when one of them asked me if I would be willing to teach the children if the school shut down after they refused to let their children work in return for the teaching. They do not see the work as undermining the spirit of true social work, but argue that the children's work means that the education is not charity. That they are paying back to be deserving of it.

    This slippery, grey zone has forced me to re examine my own beliefs on charity and doing good.

    We like to think of ourselves as beings interested in the wellness of others. Or at least appear to be interested. And so we will dole out our old, frayed sweaters to our maids and drivers, drop small change in the palms of beggars who crowd our holy places and at times be conned into hitting the 'Like' and 'Share' buttons on social media for posts which promise a dollar for a sick child. We will make notes of each such act of 'kindness' and air it to whoever is willing to listen. Think of the many times you have said or been told that on an ancestor's death anniversary you did good by giving out restaurant ordered food packets to street urchins instead of the neighbourhood pandit. We of course don't mention that convenience not an innate goodness of heart was the strongest guiding factor in the act. (Not that I advocate pandering to the whims of a pandit any way or any day)

    We delude ourselves into believing that our cast offs make a fundamental difference to the lives of the receivers. That they are testimonials to our socially conscious selves, to our essential goodness. Performed on a larger scale and with greater persistency such acts acquire the tag of 'social work'-- the kind that the NGO in my neighbourhood is doing.

    The NGO is but a magnified manifestation of my own 'do good, feel good' vanities. And if I am to have the moral authority to question it, I must first tackle my own frailties.

    Before I can question is motives, I must have answers for my own.

    Anything else would just be a charade.
    [/JUSTIFY]
     
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