環(huán)球英語20160810 GOONJ: Clothes and Respect
Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Robin Basselin.
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And I’m Ryan Geertma. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
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Suhklal lives in central India. He works every day. Each day, he earns about 20 to 25 rupees. This is about one third of a United States dollar. With this money he can usually buy food for the day. But he is not able to buy anything else. Not even clothes.
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One day, Suhklal heard about a way to get clothes. He heard about a not-for-profit organization called GOONJ. This organization does not give away free clothes. But they also do not sell clothes for money. Instead, GOONJ asks people to do work to help the community. In return for their community work, GOONJ supplies individuals with clothes.
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Suhklal decided to work with GOONJ. He gave people in his community information about preventing HIV/AIDS. And he helped people living with HIV get the right health care. By doing this work, he earned clothes for his family. Suhklal said the experience made him happy. He felt proud of his work AND his new clothes.
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Today’s Spotlight is on the GOONJ organization and how it is improving life for individuals and communities in India.
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In 1998, Anshu Gupta and his wife Meenakshi heard about a crisis. They wanted to help the people that the crisis affected. So they decided to donate clothes. They gathered all the clothes they had not worn in the past 3 years. Together they had 67 pieces of clothing. As the Guptas looked at their gathered clothing, they were surprised. They had so many extra clothes!
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The Guptas began to wonder how many people were like them. How many people in India had clothes they no longer wear? How many people just left these clothes in their homes?
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Anshu Gupta always knew that there was a need for clothes. He saw this in his work as a reporter for news organizations. He remembered writing a story about a man named Habib. Habib’s job was to remove dead bodies from the streets. But this job did not pay much money. Habib could not buy enough clothes for his daughter. So she stayed warm by putting her arms around the dead bodies.
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Gupta also remembered another time when he visited a village after an earthquake. He saw an aid organization throw clothes at the people from a truck. There was no care or respect for how the people felt. The people were so shocked and troubled by this event that they would not use the clothes.
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As Anshu and Meenakshi Gupta looked at their gathered clothes, they had an idea. They wanted to start a new clothing organization. But they wanted their organization to be different than other aid organizations. They wanted to collect clothing all year - not just at times of crisis. And they also wanted to serve people in a way that made the people receiving clothes feel proud.
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So the Guptas began their organization and called it GOONJ. GOONJ encourages people with more than enough clothes to donate. They encourage them to sort through and give away their clothes more often. But GOONJ also wants to change the way people think about giving away clothes. Anshu Gupta told the New York Times,
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“One of the biggest problems with clothes donation is you give what you have. You often do not give what people need. We need to dignify giving. We need to move the importance away from the giver’s pride. Instead, we need to concentrate on respecting the receiver’s worth and honor.”
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GOONJ hopes to change how people think about the act of giving and about the receiver. Gupta explained to the One World South Asia website,
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“Often, you do not give away old clothes as a gift. Instead, you just get rid of them. Be thankful to the people who use such clothes. You want to get rid of clothes when they have lost all value for you. That is it. But someone who is using your ‘second hand’ used material is doing you a service. They are extending the life of a material which has already been used.”
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GOONJ is also different from other aid organizations because of what it does with the clothes it collects. The organization sorts the clothing. It makes sure the clothing is given to people who can use it. For example, areas with cooler temperatures receive warmer clothes. And people in villages that wear traditional clothing would receive traditional clothing. GOONJ also re-purposes clothes that people can no longer wear. For example, a shirt with holes might be cut up and made into a bag or used to make a blanket.
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Finally, GOONJ is also different because of how it provides people with clothes. It does not give the clothes away for free. Instead, it helps organize projects that improve the community. People receive clothes in return for their community work. Gupta believes this helps the receiver have respect because they have earned the clothes. It also helps the receiver be proud of what they have done to help their community.
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GOONJ helped organize a project in the village of Sukhasan in the Indian state of Bihar. The people in this village were poor. They did not have many clothes. Storms had also washed away the village’s bridge many years before. So, GOONJ and the community worked together to build a new bridge using bamboo - a strong local plant. The people of the community provided the bamboo and the labor to build the bridge. And GOONJ paid each working person with clothes. They each received 8 sets of clothing for their families.
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Since it began, GOONJ has expanded its work. Now it has more than 10 centers where workers collect and sort clothes. GOONJ also collects more than just clothes. It collects any home or school supplies. GOONJ also started a program that helps protect women’s health.
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GOONJ has been a positive influence in India. It has affected both givers and receivers. Much of its success is a result of how it respects cultural values. Anil Gupta is a business expert. He told the New York Times,
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“What is striking is the culture of GOONJ. Those who give and those who receive are equal. From the people who give the clothes, to those who sort and put them in containers, to the people who receive them. The whole process is full of respect.”
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The writer of this program was Courtney Schutt. The producer was Mark Drenth. The voices you heard were from the United States and the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. You can listen to this program again and read it on the Internet at www.radioenglish.net. This program is called, “GOONJ: Clothes and Respect.”
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We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye.
