To give, or not to give…

Joel Katz
Outreach Blogger
8 June 2010

Just polished off most mouth-watering fish curry at a charming spot in Dhaka’s northern suburb of Gulshan. Inside restaurant it’s cool and calm.

Upper class locals sit around and talk shop, squishing curry into balls and popping them into their mouths. A giant plastic capsicum dangles above our heads with total indifference.

It’s a picture of dignified serenity.

Then we step outside and chaos descends.

Sharna talked about it last night in her post, but it’s something I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to so I’ll describe the scene. Night lights reflect off an endless sea of traffic – an insane kaleidoscope of shimmering colour.

Quickly, a group of street mums and their kids surround us. Wind whips up huge dust clouds, and their filthy wine-red shawls and saris flap behind them like the war banners of some lost Mogul Empire.

“Boss” they croon. “Money, boss.” Palms held up desperately.

Sheepishly we hand over a doggy-bag of food from the restaurant. One of the mums snatches it from me.

I feel terrible. Kids are young and mums hold ruddy-faced toddlers. I know. I know. Give them money, and I’m just perpetuating their dependence. Besides, is it even going to them, or some guy who’s exploiting them?

Still, I reach into my pocket. But Sharna knows it’ll cause a stampede, and shakes her head. Okay. She’s right.  It’s Slumdog Millionaire – but for real.

Some girls take chase as our rickshaw pulls away. All trail off accept for one, and it’s almost like she’s running for her very life. I fumble for taka and drop it into her palm as she runs alongside.

Rich locals now order rice pudding and cha in the fancy eatery. The little girl peels off down an alleyway  shouting “Thhhhhhhaaaaannnnnkkk you, boss!” to what kind of future, no one can say.

Is the money going to help her? Who knows? Maybe she’ll get a decent meal, or maybe it’ll end up in the hands of someone she’s not even related to. But for one short moment I feel slightly less guilty for getting all the breaks in life, and her getting none. Until we’re sprung on by another gang of street kids, crooning “Bossss, bossssssss.”

……….

So today we started our blogging training with the awesome ActionAid Bangladesh sponsorship team. Mahbub Hasan is their top guy. He could be a Bengali superhero. Full of energy and verve. So much passion, and he’d have them rolling in the aisles in NY’s best comedy clubs, guaranteed.

A total buzz. With Sharna and the team we nutted out what kind of blog ActionAid Bangladesh needed to get full exposure. Raise the profile of their amazing programs. Sharna mentioned Happy Homes in her great blog yesterday. We all agreed that their blog should be packed full of images and video and punchy stories on how programs like Happy Homes were literally – and I’m not exaggerating here – saving kids from a life on the street like the one I just experienced above.

ActionAid Bangladesh’s HQ is incredible. So much talent packed into the multi-levelled building, I’m not sure how it holds it all. Not to mention warmth that might just melt a polar ice sheet – and nothing to do with the 39 degree temp outside.

We also talked about how it was crucial to link their blog to all the key stake-holders, from the 31 development areas or slum districts where ActionAid sponsors kids, to national policy makers and existing and potential overseas sponsors.

ActionAid Bangladesh already has child sponsorship programs with several EU countries, but not with Australia. It’s something that AA Australia’s looking into now.

We’ve got to act to make sure that programs like Happy Homes don’t phase out due to lack of funding, and make sure these children get all the training they can, including computer and social media skills, so they don’t end up like that kid tonight chasing down the rickshaw until she almost collapsed.

Learn more about ActionAid and Project TOTO:

• ActionAid Australia website
• ActionAid Australia on Twitter
• ActionAid Bangladesh Blog
• ActionAid Bangladesh on Twitter
• Joel Katz profile
• Sharna Bremner profile