Help the Children
A word from Toby:
One of my recent goals was to learn a handful of Hindi words to show off to the children in the SOS village in Cochin, Southern India where we visit every year. To be honest with you – I’m rubbish at it… When I got to India I asked a group of young men in a department store "How do I ask the question; what is your name?" A reply from one smartly dressed assistant was "Anand, Sir…" I said "No, sorry, how do I ask you, what is your name?" He looked at me and patiently repeated… "Anand is my good name Sir…" This went on for a further 20 minutes while I tried many different ways to ask how I asked the question "what is your name" and in my efforts, learnt everyone’s name on the 3rd floor of the store…
Sugandhy, a beautiful, bright little girl who we love like our own child, leaned in to me and said "Uncle, if you keep on saying it in the same way – you will always get it wrong…" I love it when my own NLP advice comes back to bight me on the bum… Of course, she is right… If we are not succeeding by doing what we are doing, we must change the way we are doing it, to get a different result.
For years Kate and I have donated money to help 200 children in the SOS orphanage in Cochin, Southern India and I’m proud to say we have made a difference, all be it a small difference… We have paid to have new toilet blocks put in, and every year we replace their worn out, heavily used, sports equipment – and this makes a small difference to the lives of the children who live there… But (And this is a BIG BUT… It doesn’t make a difference to the next 200 children who are waiting at the gates to get into the orphanage or any long term, sustainable difference to the children who currently reside there… And as Sugandhy reminded me, doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting to somehow get a different result, is crazy. Think of Live Aid… Millions of pounds were raised to end poverty and famine in Africa. Yes, it made some difference, yet there’s still poverty and famine in Africa…
It makes me wonder whether continually throwing money into charity really is the answer. At the risk of being controversial, I see so many examples where we in the west put money into a charity pot and often don’t see the results we expect or hope for…
Through Sugandhy’s advice, Kate and I decided to do something different to get very different results, and our plan is pretty simple. Starting in the small, poverty stricken village of Madhya Pradesh in Southern India, one family at a time, we are helping mothers of the families their create small businesses for themselves. Our mission is simple: to keep the children out of the orphanages by empowering mothers to create their own family business… To Find out more follow this link: www.tobyshsoes.com
