Part of the program is the work of Padma Venkataraman (she's really cool read about her here http://www.risingstaroutreach.org/PadmaVenkataraman). Her approach is to provide small loans (usually between ten and two hundred dollars) which enable people to buy basic equipment and supplies to begin their own small businesses. Using Padma's methods, Leprosy patients have been presented with a viable alternative to begging and the opportunity to rise about the stigma of their disease for the first time in known history.
Read more about some amazing stories here http://www.risingstaroutreach.org/microlending
So while I was there Padma would tell us to NEVER give handouts to the leprosy patients. This would only stop them from working it out for themselves and destroy any hope of someday that they, or their children, could be known for their hard work and not their disease. But since then, when I would walk by a beggar or homeless person in the states, I'm always torn at how I should act? Who knows what they've gone through, or what life has dealt them, but we're in America right? If a leper in India can start their own small business to support themselves, shouldn't the homeless in America be able to work something out too?
What do you think?
I can understand how you feel with the dichotomy of wanting to help people who are less fortunate, especially since we have learned that a person with a father who had blue-collar work will likely have the same type of work in their lifetime. The differance between the leper in India and the homeless person in the states is that there is a visible help system in place for the leper. In India they are just developing and so it makes sense to have help with small businesses, but here small businesses are the ones having the hardest time with the current economic situation. I believe that it is important for people to work for their living, and by sitting on the side of the road they aren't actively searching for work. However, it also takes energy to look for work and so I think that sometimes people get down trodden and look for a hand out. Therefore, my mom taught me to give them food, not money.
ReplyDelete