100 stories of change

 
First, I want to say thank you for giving me a lot of opportunities to talk about
the initiatives, campaigns, the perceptions and outlooks that I carry towards
them. I believe that penning down my thoughts have helped me a lot to
convey my thoughts over a particular issue or a topic and even today it did
help.
 
1. One of the first articles I came across is the ‘Marvels of Munsiyari’. The
essence of the story is something that radiates positivity and motivation.
As I had personally visited this place this story has intrigued  me the
most. With the wide array of mountain range this city is far better than a
beautiful word can define. But with these challenges are present the
hilly terrain, the unfavourable climate, lack of accessibility and resources
make the life of the people living there a little bit difficult. But I believe
this is where the superheroes make an entry in the form of a woman. I
always believed that there is nothing that a woman cannot do but after
reading this story I believe that they are no less than the “The Avengers”
when they come together they become inevitable. The dream task that
they did in 45 days is commendable. The way they all worked together,
divided the task in themselves, helped each other to build a wall to
protect the grasslands from the wild animals and to secure their source
of living is something that I had always believed that only the men can
do but not anymore. Those women are the perfect epitome of hard
work, consistency and believing in themselves. There exists a gender-
stigma which is still prevalent in our society that women can’t be equal
to men when it comes to lifting stones or building a wall, but I believe
that this story has inspired a lot of people like me and to remove those
preconceived notion that are we carry with ourselves towards the
females of our society.
 
 
 
2. Not just a piece of cloth, an initiative that needed a change in the
mindset of all the people who think that this is something that shouldn’t
be talked about. Even in the previous document I mentioned how we
should make people aware of the pain, the hardships that a woman
faces during this time. Initially I had a stigma of the same for example:
how to initiate a conversation about menstruation or how to openly talk
about it. There was a fear that was present in me because of societal
 judgement when it comes to menstruation. But with time I started to
see things in a different way. The first step I took is to acknowledge and
to make myself more aware of “menstruation”. Also, this initiative of
Goonj has made me more empowered to normalize this issue and to
make all other people aware of it to erase the stigma that it carries.
 
 
3. Weddings are a “big day” for most individuals as well as families and
they want everything to be perfect, from the designer clothes to the
dinner menu. But this occasion also puts enormous social pressure on
the bride’s family to spend vast sums of money in order to fulfil the
demands of the groom’s family and to maintain the respect and dignity
in front of the relatives. But I personally carry this notion that people
have made it all superficial by adding money to it. The girls in our society
are often seen as a financial liability. I think this social stigma pushes a
lot of middle class and poor families into a pool of debt. Weddings are all
about two people coming together and transforming themselves into
one soul to spend a lifetime with each other and for this idea of
lavishness and spending too much of money is not required. It can be
done with the basic necessities to start a life for two people. This
initiative by Goonj in the form of Wedding kits is working well towards
this goal and I think it should reach the larger masses in the society. 

4. Being from a middle class family I was very ambitious about money and
luxury was the prime factor that drove me for many decisions. But with
time a realisation of balance came, balance of emotions, balance of
people, balance of everything. Today I see a lot of people going crazy for
money following unethical paths and ultimately spoiling society. I see
how Goonj helped Champaran women not to promote production of
liquor and go for difficult options. It is really very driving to convince
people not to go for easy money as an option that Goonj successfully did
in the city of Bihar. We have seen liquor harming health if consumed
without responsibly and destroying individuals and even families. I hope
this initiative by Goonj spreads more and people get inspired by bold
moves by women of Champaran who neglect easy options that damage
society for easy money.
5. My mother, being a teacher, always insisted me to save papers while
writing, use old books of seniors, and every effort to save even a single
sheet but I being a spoiled child used to write in half of the copy and
leave rest going on to next new one because fresh copy was so good to
write on. One day I saw my mom making binding copies out of my
leftover copies and then she distributed it to students who cannot afford
it in her school.. The thing I was not even looking at brought so much
happiness among those students and that day was so moving for me
personally and taught me to value resources . When I read articles of
Goonj on One sided used paper (OSUP) it reminded me of those
students. Small efforts if done consistently can show a huge difference
and that’s what Goonj depicts here. When they started this OSUP
campaign no one knew about it but now every other organisation is
considering it to bring within them. Out of all initiatives I find this one
most amazing and satisfying. 

● NGOs are difficult to define and classify, and the term NGO is not used
consistently. NGOs tend to play an increasingly prominent role in the
development, widely they are praised for their strengths and capacity to
pursue participatory people towards the fight for the development and
to fill the gaps left by the failure of states across the developing world in
meeting the needs of their poorest citizens. Goonj as an NGO is working
in all the aspects of the society be it education, social issues, disaster and
rehabilitation and various other. As an NGO Goonj is having a very
innovative approach towards every initiative. It works in a very
constructive way from collecting the raw materials from the urban areas
to turning the best out of them and to turn around them by reforming
them as kits such as Rahat kits, Ration kits, Wedding kits and much more
to help the citizens in need. As an individual working with an NGO can
turn out to be the best decision we could ever make in life. Our self-
contribution and efforts can bring a lot of change in the mindset of the
society and can lead us to the path of building a better community that
we have always dreamt of.