My blog was started so we read about all those who have the grit and granite to stand against all odds and pave a path.Over the months, many have expressed a desire to share their views and write on various issues well I thought why not ? my blog can be the platform to host the guest posts which may lead to a healthy debate and interaction of minds bringing in positive impacts. Well, here is the first post for all the readers.
Introduction : Anjum is a very dear friend whom I admire for reasons more than one.Patience, kindness, empathy rolled neatly is what she is all about. She handles her lows and highs with pronounced dignity. A brilliant home maker and mother to two grown up boys. Battling with emotions and the tide within she has evolved with simple but firm steps.Professionally is teaching colloquial english to working adults at Yashwant Rao Chavan Hall at Nariman Point and also finds time to help the under privileged children to battle with their struggle to understand and do well with their syllabus.An excellent cook she has been holding classes on her favorite mantra ” leftovers can be made interestingly new ”
ALIENATION AND ESTRANGEMENT IN THE NGO Anjum Peerbhoy
NGO….a group of dedicated people working selflessly towards betterment of society. Ofcourse. How they go about doing it is none of our business. Or is it? Not till you get involved with one! The ego tussles and the high – handedness that you encounter deprives the NGO of its sheen and glory and leaves you so disillusioned!
I’ve had the experience of working with NGOs run by women. I am a woman, but at the risk of inviting wrath from my sisterhood, I wonder if this is a gender specific attitude? My first stint was not painful only a little frustrating as the trustees were not easily prone to changes but well each to his own.And in the other NGO? I lost many a definitions and many emotions.
I helped start an important division of their program, been part of it, contributed significantly towards its success, my contribution was a pillar which gave them access to many other outlets, but I had no authority to implement my ideas! How could I be given the credit? I was a mere teacher! Where as they were the face of the NGO who went with fancy files to various authorities. The success and contents in the files was contribution of someone like me that deserved no mention?
People only get to see the face of the NGO, the Chairperson so and so, clad in expensive attire, hob nobbing with the elite. But its the enormous effort of the people working selflessly at the grassroot level, that gives any organization its name and success. A commercial establishment pays its employees well – down to the last level. Everybody profits when the company profits. In an NGO, the grassroots level worker is either a volunteer or get paid an embarrassingly low salary
NGO is always somebody’s brainchild, somebody’s ‘great vision’ – but can this vision ever become a reality if there weren’t thousands of unknown, faceless people working tirelessly in conditions devoid of basic comforts? Ever wondered why there was such a high turnover of volunteers and low – paid teachers? Till such a time their contribution is acknowledged and value and their experience is taken into account while taking major decisions, this sense of alienation will continue. You are empowering the less privileged, but aren’t you exploiting others, the not-so underprivileged? Taking advantage of their sense of commitment to the cause? They use the services of young professionals and do not pay them after hiring them? is this empowerment? Is this social justice? The Chairperson and founder loves the mushroom growth, she is glorified but now she needs fresh ideas and strong feet and shoulders to take it forward and she has to be sugar and honey and she has to pamper the ones on stage. The ones’s back stage like me well she has no time.. I think, that the “holier than thou” attitude that they assume, itself becomes a barrier between them and the cause that they espouse!
I couldn’t deal with the trauma of dealing with an aggressively dominating colleague cum boss. She was a friend when she offered me the job, but gradually the boundaries became apparent. My inability to assert myself bacame a great handicap – it allowed her to snub me, to dismiss my opinions and ideas without giving them a moment’s consideration. I was hurt badly, ever more so because I was good at my job. I could relate to the kids, could communicate with them, and they adored me in turn. The kids left no opportunity to convey their love for me to one and all, in spite of all this in the end decided with a heavy heart to quit the job, and a say a good bye to the school, as could not take my self respect being crushed any more.
I found a way to stay connected with the children at school they call me and come over to my place and I am their teacher ji … on my home front…I have moved on…..new challenges, new opportunities are beckoning already, Am enjoying my new tenure where I have got the wings to plan execute and implement and the standing ovationa the end of it all is something which made me realize that there is lot of appreciation one just needs to be at the right end
I have a song in my heart…….
Anjum Peerbhoy
