My work with the Deepti Foundation is a daily inspiration to me. Because we refuse to look away when someone is in need and refuse to assume someone else will solve a problem. We have been able to help thousands from the decreasing standard of living of the marginalized. Our initiatives moved to try and rehabilitate those who have suffered the loss of the family’s breadwinners or loved ones, who have lost their livelihoods and their dignity in their daily struggles. When poverty, hunger and lack of basic resources remained a major issue for a vast majority of people in the country, the small gestures of DF provided much needed social and economic security to the lives of thousands of people who were on the margin of subsistence. They earn enough now to feed their families, go the doctor, send their kids to school and create a more stable future for themselves and their families. In other words, small gestures could mean big dividends.
In situations of several social and economic fault lines – increasing economic inequalities, increasing social tensions, unhappiness with the standard of living; there is nothing more powerful than changing a life. And no matter, what the challenge, we have to refuse to look away. Our endeavor has to be a first for the country.
Tomy John
Chairman, DF