Delhi belli.....

“Don’t worry we all get sick here in India – you are my new friend and I will help you like a real Indian”

I am sat at home with a severe bout of what can only be described as Delhi Belli (soon to be diagnosed by a doctor) Not wanting to run into details (for your sake!) lets just say it’s not pleasant. The reaction to my sickness has been so lovely – everyone around me is helping and getting me whatever I need – I am certainly not wanting for anything. The above quote though was from a man that I met while visiting the Victoria Memorial on Sunday. I got to talking with his friends and he was most adamant that we should stay in contact. His contact with me since has been nothing but diligent, to the point that I was starting to get a bit annoyed – if I didn’t reply to one of his messages with 30 minutes he would also get annoyed – so I decided to tell him that I was sorry but I couldn’t be in contact because I was unwell. And the above quote was what he sent me. It’s very nice that he sees himself as my new friend and wants to help – trust me though when you have Delhi Belli you want nothing more than to be alone!

On Sunday evening I also had a meeting with a man who has vast experience working with NGOs all over the world including Cambodia, half of Africa and all over India. He was telling me some of his annoyances with working in the NGO world. It was the egos of some NGOs that seem to get to him and more so the NGOs who he felt were ineffective and unnecessary, working alongside NGOs who were doing a better job at the same thing. He mentioned one example following the tsunami. International aid efforts came along and asked villages what they needed and more often than not they said that they needed a boat as theirs was destroyed. Along came another NGO and asked what they needed – the village would say that now they needed a new engine for their boat. Very nice – now all the villages had been contacted and they now all have boats and engines….

One year down the line - the local port has now been completely over-fished and the price of fish has dropped to the point that you couldn’t give it away. The government stepped in to take drastic measures and imposed a ban on fishing in that area until 2020, completely ruining the livelihoods of families that had worked as fisherman for generations. On taking a survey of the number of boats in the water before the tsunami, the number was around 600 with far less having working engines. Post-tsunami and with the help of the, international aid effort, there were around 20,000 boats in the water all with working engines. We all want to help but what help we provide and how that help is delivered are crucial to gaining the best outcome.

Another prime example of ‘help’ not going where it’s needed is at a leprosy clinic one of my fellow volunteers works in. At the clinic it is practice to put Betadine on all wounds seen at the clinic. This drug is often used pre-surgery and helps infected wounds but when used too often can seriously damage the thyroid. Patients though are insistent that it is used on absolutely everything and constantly ask for ‘medicine’ not realising that this bright yellow paste which they have gotten accustomed to helping them is actually doing them harm in the long run. Changing people’s perceptions about overly using this drug is a constant issue for this volunteer.

It got me thinking, sometimes when you have Delhi Belli are you in fact better left alone?

The Rambam tells us the eight levels of tzedaka that a Jews can give. The greatest being:

is that of the person who assists a poor person by providing him with a gift or a loan or by accepting him into a business partnership or by helping him find employment – in a word, by putting him where he can dispense with other people’s aid. With reference to such aid, it is said, “You shall strengthen him, be he a stranger or a settler, he shall live with you” (Leviticus 25:35), which means strengthen him in such a manner that his falling into want is prevented.

(Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Gifts to the Poor 10:7)

From this we can see that the greatest way we can help someone is so that they are no longer dependent on us or anyone. Furthermore it is to be done with dignity and with a ‘partnership’ so neither side is superior. Perhaps this also distinguishes between ‘tzedek’ and tzedeaka’ – the preventative and the reactive which are both necessary. As the Sages explain:

It takes one person to support something before it falls, but after it falls, even five people may not be able to lift it

(see Rashi’s commentary on Leviticus 25:35)

The preventative though is also just as hard. It is no easy fete to work in the NGO world – it takes time and assessment to make sure you are doing work that will help someone in the long run and not the temporary. The first volunteering I ever did, the organizer took far greater time to tell me not to ‘do any harm’ never mind to help anyone.

This idea must be transferred to the charity sector. For too long people have barged into situations, with the best intentions, and in the long run the people involved are no better and in some situations worse off. The organisations we are working with here in Kolkata provide an example of this. When we first arrived we had two options offered to us with our volunteering – at Ankur Kala (the women’s empowerment home) we could help doing some of the work of the women chopping vegetables and helping produce some of their needlework and at SPAN (a children’s advocacy organisation) we had an option to teach some of their classes. All very lovely and we would get lots of great facebook photos with ‘vulnerable women’ and ‘deprived children’ but how lasting is that impact and will it really help or takeaway from what they are doing well themselves?

Instead we are working on projects that will be there long after we have left, such as improving teaching legislation, editing annual reports, overseeing long-term budget proposals and creating new, manageable P.R opportunities. This is the less glamorous side to NGOs but perhaps the area where our knowledge can truly make a difference.

A project that Tzedek is looking into applying in Kolkata is creating a forum for all NGOs to work together and communicate more. Currently there is great suspicion among the NGOs and there is little to no work done together. With over 2000 registered NGOs in the area – there is bound to be an overlap of aims and with some collaboration more people could be helped. By more people talking and investigating what the real issues are in the area, resources could be shared, ‘competition’ amongst NGOs eliminated and instances like those during the tsunami could be avoided.

Often it is not enough to help, we have to start helping with foresight and responsibility so that our support will be enough to eradicate the root of the problems. Hopefully my doctor will take this approach with me – I’ll keep you updated!