‘Personal relationships key to giving and receiving with dignity’

Lucknow: Study Hall Educational Foundation in the 37th edition of its Join the Discussion series invited Anshu Gupta and Meenakshi Gupta, founder of Goonj – an NGO which undertakes disaster relief, humanitarian aid and community development. The topic of discussion for the day was – giving and receiving with dignity.

Anshu Gupta, popularly known as the Clothing Man, while introducing the work that they do talked about how our clothes form such an important part of our dignity and also play a key role in our survival – protecting us from vagaries of weather. “We aim to recognize and value the potential of local resources and traditional wisdom of people.Our focus is concentrated on the receiver’s dignity instead of the donor’s pride.” Anshu said.

He added, “Publicizing your work on social media should not motivate the masses to be a giver. One has to make personal connections so that the person receiving it doesn’t feel burdened. That’s the effort you make and that is what giving and receiving with dignity is all about.”

“This pandemic has left a lot of people in despair. We should learn to talk to people and understand what their needs are and act accordingly. Relationships are the key here”, Anshu added.

Talking about her journey with Goonj, Meenakshi said, “I come from a middle class family in Delhi.I did not have an education that showed me the stark realities of the world. My learnings are all from when I stepped into a village and how we moulded our projects to fit the needs of those people.”

President and CEO of Study Hall Educational Foundation, Dr Urvashi Sahni was the moderator of the discussion. Dr Sahni while sharing her experience about giving and receiving with dignity said, “Once I gave a few chocolates to one of my Prerna girls and the next day she came back and gave two of them to me. I asked her why are you giving them back. Angered by what I had said, she replied – these are my chocolates now and I choose to share them with you. Is that a problem? ”

Join the Discussion is a series of bimonthly panel discussions on relevant topics organised by Study Hall Educational Foundation. The 37th edition of the Join the Discussion series was attended by over 250 people via Zoom.