I tried to explain my philosophy to her which is as below.
It is a good thought that we have to give money to the poor, the story doesn't end there. Because by giving money without expecting anything in return, i.e by giving doles, we don't make it any better. Though it is government's responsibility to improve the standard of living of those people, it should be their own responsibility to come out of poverty.
And in India everyone says what does the government do when he himself could have done something. This it is someone's responsibility to do something. I feel a committed person with no or less funds can do better than a person with no committment but lot of money.
I think we would do well here to remember the famous quote of Gandhi - 'Be the Change You Want to see in the world.'
A case in point is Nirmaan an NGO whose history states that it started in usual discussions we youth have regarding development of India
Nirmaan, which was initially known as My INDIA is a thought emerged from the usual discussions on national issues that used to take place in the bhawans of BITS, Pilani. During one such usual discussion, few participants put up a thought that the idea of every citizen working towards a common goal of making India a developed Nation can alone solve the problems that the nation is facing. That powerful thought gave the birth for our organisation which is now called Nirmaan.
In fact every NGO would have started from this vision, it is not the funds that matter but committment to the idea that matters.
