Art of Giving

“Very recently we had gathered funds of over Rs 45,000 for the Andhra-Karnataka flood relief where over 15,000 were spent on medicines,school supplies and land restoration activities. We are now sending the remaining Rs 30,000 to Haiti for the relief of the earthquake victims,” says Sourabh Phadke,a city-based architect who is involved in this project.

“We may not be able to go to Haiti,but our contribution will ensure that those who need help will be able to get it. We don’t have any organisation as such but we believe in the empowerment of individuals and making them aware of their responsibilities towards nature and towards mankind. It’s not an individual’s contribution. In fact the credit goes to everyone who has come forward to make some difference to the world,” he adds.

The group plans to send the funds to Haiti with the help of Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL),a non-profit organisation dedicated to protecting soil resources,empowering communities and transforming wastes into resources in Haiti. “Sourabh got to know about this organisation while surfing online. Their philosophy seemed to match with the mission we were on. I am also a part of an American foundation – Silicon Valley Community Foundation – that does the similar work,so I had prior experience of working for such kind of projects,” says Sreeman Mishu Barua,an engineer who has also contributed towards the cause.

With the first step taken towards the cause,S Vishwanath,a civil engineer and one of the contributors says,“We have been establishing a global network of individuals who are working on sanitation issues and this relief fund is one of the steps towards it.”