BENGALURU: Volunteering for NGOs, which was once looked at as a noble act, is now done to score brownie points in college. Even as there are a number of NGOs that are springing up in the city, one of the main challenges they face is a lack of genuine helping hands. One such educational institute that faces this challenge is, How To Tell Your Child.
This school was founded by Deepa Kumar, as an initiative to educate children and adults about child sexual abuse and puberty. However, due to the lack of volunteers, she has been struggling to make ends meet. Presently, there are six volunteers from Bengaluru, eight volunteers from India and 22 from other countries like Vietnam, China and Nigeria. On the dwindling number of volunteers who sign up from the country, Deepa says, “People are generally hesitant to talk about puberty and sexual abuse to other people including volunteers.”
The Association for Promoting Social Action, a rights-based, child centred, community development organisation also faces similar issues. According to the Vishalakshi Sharma, the senior coordinator of Association for Promoting Social Action, the number of volunteers has been decreasing over the years. In addition to this, the volunteers are signing up for the social cause, not because of their personal interest but because it is part of the course requirement in college. They do it solely for their internship certificates and academic grades. “There is no fixed number of volunteers.
They come at their own convenience, which does not help us reach our goals. Their goals are grades and our goals are to help others,” Vishalakshi says. Anjali Chauhan, the fundraiser for Vidyaranya NGO, that works towards child upliftment and women empowerment, wishes students from colleges and universities were not compelled to take up the internship. She says, “I wish volunteers were more focused and contribute to it with their heart rather than taking it for granted.” There are about 50 to 70 volunteers working under Vidyaranya NGO that aims to help children, women and the elderly. However, only 40 per cent of them are contributing towards the programme in helping others.