Long back, we as a family took a decision of celebrating all our important days like birthdays, anniversaries or days we achieved something in life in the company of children/ adults who in some form or the other are deprived of a normal life. We visit orphanages, schools for special children or just around the streets meeting poor people, specially kids. It doesn’t cost us much but gives lots and lots of happiness and joy. We don’t have much money to share but we do have is time, experience and knowledge in abundance, to share. 

Sharing doesn’t just means ‘donating money’ …. 

We do organise a meal for the kids, share some goodies, clothes or stationary but I think what they love most is the time we spend with them, talking to them on various aspects of life ranging from health, education, bit of future planning, to be strong always and such like topics. Some of these kids are really sharp, what they lack are the right opportunity. There is a particular School for Visually Impaired Kids we used to visit normally once in two months. But whenever we went there the kids could recognise all my family members on hearing our voice. They were all good students, loved to play music and always enthralled us with some lovely songs. 

The adults just require our time and emotional support. Its so good to hear their stories, always a great learning from their experiences. 

Teach the Kids to share…. 

One doesn’t require too much money or time to share with the deprived; what is required is just a thought in mind and the sharing automatically starts. We as a family have been sharing in different ways like adopting kids for education (It is surprising to know that it doesn’t cost more than Rs 5000 a year for imparting decent education to a child; that’s what a set of books, stationary and two pairs of uniform cost [the tuition fee being taken care by the Government]), organising meals, once a month for deprived kids or poor people ( I wish I could do it daily but that’s beyond my capability as of now and it’s not too difficult if all of us join), Distributing clothes, woollens and blankets( in winters, I have driven around with my wife and kids spreading blankets over people sleeping in the open without any cover). Other than this we have been donating to various Non- Governmental Organisations (NGOs) working for the welfare of poor. 

Share to Spread Happiness…. 

It’s very important for us to teach our kids the ‘Value’ of ‘Giving’. As far as I have seen, giving/ sharing doesn’t come naturally to all kids, most are over possessive about their belonging and won’t like to share and certainly not give away permanently to anyone else. I am happy my kids love to share. Few days back as we were about to get in the car after having dinner in a restaurant, a small boy came running to my daughter literally begging her to buy a balloon from him so he can get money to buy food for himself. He had about 10 balloons and my good daughter bargained to buy all 10 for Rs 50 though she had no use for the balloons but I knew since her intent was to help the kid, I did not stop her and paid out. Everybody else tried to dissuade us but at that point of time what mattered most was the smile that action brought on the face of my daughter and the kid. May be that kid made a fool of us and made Rs 50 but still remained the cause of his happiness, that’s good enough for us. 

Conclusion…. 

I am sure none of us like the sight of a destitute / beggar on the street. If all of us join hands and do our bit we can actually eradicate beggars from the streets. If we form welfare organisations at the colony / street level and take care of the poor in the nearby areas they will also get the motivation to move out and work and stop begging.