Charity begins at home and helping begins wherever you decide to. That being said, spaces and environments play a major role in how motivated we are to execute any task, one of them is helping others.
Everyone needs help with something or the other, big or small. This means that we can help anywhere, and everywhere. If you are someone who is driven to help others, you wish to help with the things that you can and don’t know where to start, keep reading.
As much as we preach we can start helping wherever we want, there are places that are especially dedicated to helping people, the communities they are a part of and even the environment. Joining such organisations enables you to chip in your efforts towards a good cause that helps, without having to bear the responsibility alone. Everything gets easier when we all move together.
Places where one can help-
Organisations dedicated to controlling climate change.
Climate change is a very real problem that is going to be the biggest challenge we face in a few years. Unfortunately, the generation that is going to be the most affected by climate change is going to be the one that has contributed the least to it. We can see and experience the effects even now, with rising temperatures, weather unusual to the region manifesting itself regardless, irregular and scarcer rainfall, melting glaciers. And this is just the beginning, these effects are going to be even more severe in the years to come, and the damage we are doing to the environment right now is irreversible.
It is better to tackle the situation while we still, and do damage control so we can still limit the damage, rather than regret it later when we don’t have the power to change anything anymore. This can only be done through collective effort.
How can you help? By making small changes in your daily life to be more eco-friendly, but more than that by spreading awareness and encouraging others to adopt these practices too. A big contributor to these issues are also large-scale corporations, and it is important to campaign to push for them to make changes that reflect on a large scale. And you can help with that.
Organisations for social changes.
The life of every individual that lives within the society is influenced and affected by the societal structure it follows. As we grow and evolve as people, these societal structures, too, need to evolve and adapt to the changes. And this needs constant effort, from everyone who believes in a better world, until everyone in the society (or at least enough so they are the majority) believes in this ideal too. There are many segments of the current society that strive for equal treatment, but still don’t have it. Women face prejudice in every aspect of their life, some from their parents themselves, some from their siblings, some others from their professors/teachers/mentors, some from their spouses and in-laws and many others in their workplace. The prejudices they face as unwarranted and baseless, stemming purely from the preconceived notions the perpetrators hold of women. Individuals belonging to the LGBTQIA+ community too face challenges and animosity simply for existing, and many even spend a good chunk of their lives (and in some truly sad cases, their entire lives) not being comfortable with themselves out of fear of being different, or of being rejected by those close to them, or worse being directed disgust because of who they are. All this, just because some people don’t take the time to understand, or at the very least have human-level empathy. There are people who still have to deal with the vestiges of the caste system because other people refuse to change their thinking. Racism, xenophobia, and misogyny are still problems plaguing our society. We can help by trying to challenge these ideas whenever we come across someone practising, challenging these ideas in a platform that makes it very clear to everyone who comes across that these are not okay, and only suppress potential that can lead to a better world.
Homes for the elderly.
These are facilities that especially work towards taking care of the elderly who either have no children or have been abandoned by their children and have no one else to take care of them. We could always help in such places, we can volunteer to provide many of the services these homes aim to provide but need more manpower for. Be it helping them cook for large quantities, or to dispense medication to correct individuals based on their medical requirements. If nothing else, you can help them by spending time with them. They would welcome the company, and you will learn a lot about their experiences.
Orphanages.
Institutions that provide for children who are on their own, are places where you can help not only the children residing there, but also help the future. These are kids who could truly benefit from education and guidance, kids that are capable and have the vitality and drive to make a positive change. You can help in a majority of ways, conduct donation drives for books, or drives to collect funds to be able to grant them an education. If any of these seem less than feasible, you can educate them yourself. It may not be as polished as formal education, but knowledge is knowledge no matter the source. You also have the opportunity to guide them towards a better future for them and mentor them to be good individuals and responsible citizens. Spend time with them, try your best to use the familiarity and the influence you may have over them to encourage them to do better for themselves. This would be the legacy you would leave behind.
Helplines.
There are many helplines and crisis hotlines that you could volunteer for and help at. From those that deal with more severe cases of depression to simply those that simply need someone to listen to what they have to say, or need someone to talk to if only to help makes sense of the thoughts in their heads. It is essential for you to understand the importance of helping with hotlines though. You might be trained, but there are things you need to keep in mind from your end as well. When you work on the back-end of these helplines, you have people being very vulnerable with you and might even disclose personal information, but confidentiality is imperative. You also take on a huge mental task and responsibility when you sign up to help with helplines that aim to cope with mental health better.
Campaigns and Drives.
You can conduct campaigns and drives for a variety of reasons. Blood donation drives are incredibly helpful for the patients that need them, and also offer an easy and accessible way for donors, who intend to donate blood but still need a push because they are too wrapped up in their daily lives.
There are book donation drives where people can donate old books that they do not read anymore, be it educational or recreational or even new books for the express purpose of making literature more accessible to those who may not be able to afford it. It helps not only children, but any person willing to educate themselves, and in many cases also helps people who face social stigma against being educated (like women in some rural areas are still denied education despite the government encouraging education for the girl-child).
There can be food drives organised. Food wastage is a heart-breaking problem to have, given there are many who go to bed hungry because they cannot afford meals, and even worse those who starve until they perish. Indian weddings especially are a huge source of food wastage, given the absolutely redundant scale of a wedding’s success is measured by the number of food items they have. This leads to a lot of food wastage. Instead of letting food from these unnecessarily extravagant weddings and events go waste, we can mobilise a group of people to make sure that excess food instead goes to those in need.
There have been many collectives who work on this kind of programme, so if you feel organising something like this on your own can be overwhelming, you can join one of these groups.
These are some of the specific directions, places where you can join to help the people around and the world at large as well. These are places where you will like-minded individuals, who want to help and be a small part of a bigger change. They might also be people who have been doing this for a while and have experience and tips and tricks, can guide and help you ease into the journey of being of help to something bigger than you. But there are also smaller ways you can help, things you can do on your own that will still be of help to others. After all, even if we can make a positive difference in the life of even one person, it is worth it. So places where you can make small changes without having to ‘go’ somewhere, and you can start right where you are-
Home is where the heart is.
And if your heart is set on being of help, you can begin right where you start and end your day. Regardless of your living situation, you can help from home! If you live alone, you can help your neighbours. Offer to walk their dog, receive their letters and parcels if they are not there to receive them, or even just be a polite neighbour who is both not noisy and not nosy. If you have a house-help, try and help them if they are facing problems. If you have a roommate, try being helpful towards them. Be understanding when they are having a tough time, maybe lend a listening ear.
If you live with your parents, help them with tasks around the house. Little things often get piled up, instead take the initiative to get them done. From simply decluttering and organising a desk to help with the Diwali cleaning, all of it helps. It might not be a big deal on your end, but they will definitely appreciate it.
Being helpful at school/university/work.
The second biggest chunk of time one spends, besides at home, is often at school, university or work. Hence, the best place to be helpful without any extra effort (or travel!) would be here. Being helpful in school is easy, we are taught from a very young age to be kind and helpful towards our peers. We are taught to share and be polite. Hence it almost comes naturally to be helpful towards our friends, and because we are instructed to, any hesitance or awkwardness fizzles out.
University is a little trickier. We are at that stage in life where we are very self-conscious and tend to overthink the way us offering help would be taken or interpreted. But everyone appreciates being helped. And if they don’t need help, they will tell you so. So, always be on the lookout for ways in which you can help. It is also an excellent way to make friends, as you going out your way to help them tells them you are a kind and reliable person. Even if you don’t become friends with them, they are likely to think highly of you.
Workplaces should always encourage an environment of helpfulness over the culture of toxic competition. Helpful competitiveness is fine, but only achievable when helpfulness is encouraged along with competition to prevent it from getting too intense, which can bring down the morale of the workplace. A helpful workplace also translates to healthier work culture, work environment and a sensible work-life balance. And if you have a workplace where everyone is working towards collaborative effort and collective success, where you are not afraid to ask for help, you are more likely to walk into your office with a smile rather than dread. So be that person, be the first to introduce helpfulness into your workplace. You’ll be surprised by how many follow suit.
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