Gv's giving back plan

What's up next?

There are a lot of poor artists who sit along the roads from Kukatpally to Miyapur, who sell different stuff(Sculpture, furniture). I am planning to organize some event which can spread awareness about they live, make money, educate their kids etc). Tentatively it should be as follows.

1. We go there and they will tell us what they do.

2. They help us MAKE what they make, we can use our own creativity here. (Who knows we might have some talent in us :P)

3. We buy our own creation and pay them some money for letting us do it.

Why are we doing this?

I believe that the first step in solving any problem is making ourself aware of it. And then go about solving it. One of the problems I am interested into is why are people not keen to make their kids study(like our moms did, I should acutally be using Force instead of keen). The key to educate India is instill solid value of education in the parents. For this I want to identify segments of population which don't send/force their kids to study, and organize a campaign to spread awareness on what they do. Once we are aware of their situation, we can find out

1. How could I, if in their positions would have achieved more? If we can use our education, it will make sense for them to use education too.

2. If I couldn't have achieved more, what changes in the education system would have helped me acheive more?

3. How can we help them? If we can help them in any way, we are living proof that education can help them.

Another segment I aim to target apart from the artists are fishermen. Though I have no idea, what we will be doing. (It can be also go there in a group and build a boat). I will be heading out soon to talk with these segments, volunteers and organizers are most welcome to join :)

Your plan

This is about my plan. Ask yourself, what is yours.

If you don't know how to begin or what to do, join GOAL. There are a lot of things you can do. If you feel like doing something else you want to do and you feel lack of support/cooperation, Start alone. Don't wait for GOAL, or a lot of people to join. People will join you, when they start understanding your purpose(Yes, you need to maintain a blog about it). And it is more important to be with the right people than being with a lot of different thinking heads. Personally, I would be more than happy to help you in any way I can. Just keep in touch with me.

Food

Each time you throw food just ask yourself

- Was it because I estimated what I would eat incorrectly?

- Is there a pattern in what I don't eat, still I take?

- Can I do something about it from now on?

When throwing a paper cup ask yourself

- Why couldn't I use a water bottle instead?

- Can I do something about it from now on?

Animals rescue

- Turn vegetarian. (Atleast for 1-2 days in a week). Each animal consumed by you, creates a demand for killing another animal, who had eaten almost a forest before dying to serve you. By choosing not to eat, you help diminish the demand to clear forests for animal farms.

Jute Bags

-Hang Jute/Cotton shopping bags behind your main door, in your car and bike. Use these jute bags whenever you want to go out for shopping.

-Use different dustbins for

1. Plastic & Paper. Somewhere visible on top of the plastic put the sticker "Could I have avoided using this plastic/paper?" Whenever you throw plastic in that dusting, ask yourself the question and identify the change in habit that could do so.

2. Combustible garbage

-Recycle the plastic bags/paper, (or let us know we will organize drives for it) and donate the money to some waste management org :P

Save the Rocks

How do we help save the rocks?

Thank you for thinking about it. I have a few ideas, though the better idea will come from YOU.

-Begin with understanding: Join Save the Rocks society at http://saverocks.org/TheSociety.html.

Fencing the area: This requires talking to different sponsors(may be Google) who might contribute money for fencing the preserved rock sites.

-Map it all: The maps to these preserved sites are currently hand drawn by Ms Frauke Quader, and can be more useful if they are on Google maps. I picked them from the web site, and tried to map them here. You can take more sites from the page, and add them. (Better still, we can plan an excursion to those sites, and then we can mark them on the map)

- Spread awareness. Link to this post, post your blog links about the rocks, hang out with friends and look for other mediums to spread the awareness(eg media)

Pictures: If you know how to click a photograph, you can help. Click good photos for these rocks and then we can put them at saverocks.org

Board: Usually even the construction guys don't know that they will be sued for what they are destroying. A great way is to put a board that says so. Let me know if you are interested in having some activity planned where we can paint such boards, and go and put them at the rock site.