Author: Gautam Chikermane
Publication: Outlook
Date: February 12, 2001
What can an individual do? Nothing,
I thought, and let the statistics-thousands of men, women and children
dead, towns turned to rubble, crores damaged-smother my sensitivity. Until
Vikrant happened. This 26-year-old came home and announced: "I'm going.
Do you want to do something?" Sure I wanted to, but what?
The answer came in torrents, through
actions I couldn't control, in ways I never thought were possible. We dialled
the numbers and in less than two hours my house turned into a control room
for relief as six of us sat down to take stock.
Bharat, who had travelled through
Gujarat extensively, was familiar with the topography of the region; Madhavan
and Aloka brought their experiences of working with ngos; Monika, our in-house
geek, activated the cyber-mailing lists. All of us pivoted around the most
precious commodity-Vikrant's enthusiasm. We decided to take help to rural
areas where aid hadn't reached till then. But an executing organisation
was necessary. We short-listed Jan Vikas, an organisation that had been
active in rural India for 13 years.
A few calls to Ahmedabad and we
started moving.We realised that while everyone was collecting material,
nobody was really thinking of taking them there. So, we concentrated our
efforts in organising the infrastructure.
Sachin and Ashu offered their godowns.
Bobby offered to take one truckload of relief material to any place in
Gujarat, every day. All those whom we called started collecting stuff in
bulk. One wall of my house turned into a notice board where all these activities
were recorded so that anybody who joined in late knew what was going on.
Soon, e-mails from grassroots workers
turned into a flood and thankfully, both vsnl and mtnl behaved. But somewhere
along the way we realised that our focus was wrong. What was needed was
not clothes, but warm clothes, blankets, buckets, dry rations. Tents and
tarpaulin sheets to make temporary homes were critical. Vishal, a businessman
who had just flown down from Paris, took the responsibility of arranging
truckload of tents.
In the middle of all this, a 19-year-old
joined us, literally back from the dead. Umang was a mute witness to a
whole town of Anjar turn into rubble. He brought the cries of the living
dead to us. He wanted to go back, but before that he wanted to sensitise
the people here. We thus put him on the media and college round. The list-and
the enthusiasm-only grew. But what we need now is cash to buy things in
bulk. Unfortunately, that's the hardest thing to come.
As for medical accessories, we got
specific lists requesting things we hadn't thought about initially-x-ray
hangers, antacids, eye drops, insulin, needles, plaster of Paris, disposable
syringes, crutches, portable operating lights and tables, catheters-the
list's deliberately kept long to not only show what's needed, but also
because the sheer variety screamed volumes about the extent of damage.
Through all this, each of us had
enriching experiences. When Vikrant was pasting a poster on a doctor's
clinic, a poor man offered: "If there's an orphaned child, please get him
here. I will take care of him." Or, when the painters came to know why
the posters were being made, they offered their work at cost. Later, two
of them said: "We have no dhan (money) to give, so we're offering our tan
(body) and man (soul)." They are planning to go to Gujarat next week.
Right now, we are in the centre
of two groups of ngos: Jan Vikas (which is coordinating the activities
of 16 other groups in the region), and 14 ngos here in Delhi which are
collecting funds, medicines and goods.We, the nameless, are the logistical
link between the donors and the victims. This is something we never aspired
for. How did this happen? Are there any lessons for others, who may be
interested in "doing something", but are pushed into inertia, thinking:
"What can an individual do?"
A lot, in fact. But there are certain
preconditions. One, there must be a genuine desire to help. Two, there
should be a true spirit of selflessness-the project is more important than
its constituent egos. Three, each activist should be turned into a stakeholder
and not merely a donor; conversely, each opinion should be valued. Four,
focus on what's missing, infrastructure in our case. Five, the presence
of the young is essential-they bring the refreshing spirit of adventure
and enthusiasm that binds a loose confederation of ideas and turn it into
an organisation that works. Six, become a hub where information, things
and money flow effortlessly. Seven, remember, you can't do everything.
Instead, concentrate on what you can. Eight, be ready to dismantle the
group once your mission is successful, but define 'success' in your own
way.
