How to “make a difference” - - feeding people, or caring for animals

There are so many areas in India that can use a “boost,” and I would like to be able to do some small part of “making things better” while we are here. But where to begin?

I was doing an after lunch walk near the IBM Research facility, where a little “tent city” has sprung up. (I don’t know why homeless people congregate in one area vs. another. I know that clusters form in places where there is construction going on and a need for day laborers; but I don’t know what spawned this particular cluster.) I saw a baby girl – less than one year old – sitting half naked on the ground, playing with sticks and stones (and perfectly happy, I might add.) Her mother was 30 feet away, breaking bricks with a small tool. When she saw me sitting near her little girl, she walked over, and said “biscuits?” I went back to the IBM building, and bought 10 sleeves of cookies, and came back down. I began thinking that this little girl could be someone I could help; I would buy clothes for her the following day, etc. As I was walking over, 3 little boys emerged from the “tent city” and started walking with me. I gave them 3 sleeves of cookies. Suddenly 5 other children emerged. And the mother of the little girl from the beginning of this story walked toward me; I gave her the rest of the cookie sleeves. Now I had 5 children with nothing, and I was trying to tell the boys that had cookies to “share.” (I’m sure THAT suggestion was successful, if it was even understood.) I began walking back to IBM. Now, mothers were coming out and following me too. This model clearly wasn’t working….The best way to make one little girl your “target” for support is probably through one of those television ads in the US that say “for just pennies a day, you can help child X get medications and go to school” – you can focus on “just one” from a remote location, but once you are in situ, it isn’t possible.

When I got inside the gate at IBM, the 3 dogs that always hang around were there. Someone pointed out that dogs are territorial…so those are the 3 “IBM dogs,” and others will not invade their territory. I have been bringing food and treats for the dogs for the last couple of months. They have come to expect something whenever they see me, which is fine; and I try not to disappoint. But at least with animals, it’s a finite set.