Doing good, collectively

Dawn was just beginning to crack the skies, and the morning breeze was sharpening when hundreds of Bengalureans turned up at Cubbon Park to join the ‘Run for Cancer’ event recently. What brought the motley crowd of schoolboys, white-haired oldies, corporate whizzes, eager teenagers, sari-clad home-makers and countless others to join the run was a desire to contribute to cancer hospice, Karunashraya.

But who exactly got them together was just a simple service club – the Soroptimist International (SI), Bengaluru. This service club is a network of 22 women professionals — doctors, lawyers, journalists, teachers, counsellors, bankers, managers, businesswomen, artists and many more who have pooled their talents and resources to take up a number of social causes.

It all started in 2003, from a small, crowded paediatrician’s clinic in the busy crossroads of Richmond Town. About 20 women professionals got together and wondered what kind of service they could take up for social causes they felt deeply about, and how they could collect funds for complicated activities. “It was quite confusing,” admits Dr Nalini Subbaiah, the founder-president. “We began with newspaper collections to raise funds. But in 13 years, we can look back at a list of events that makes us glow with pride.”

Impressive worklistIndeed, the SI activities are quite impressive. Mamata Ghosh, a businessperson lists many projects that begin to sound as if they would never end: building 64 toilets in two villages, donating water filters, vaccinating hundreds of children, teaching English and communicative skills to underprivileged children, enabling schools to pool foodgrains to benefit underprivileged sections, giving scholarships to meritorious but deprived students, helping many to learn vocational skills and market them. 

Sudha Jalan, a businessperson, recollects her SI journeys through different villages. “We were often armed with carrybags for foodgrains, or glinting vaccination needles for schoolchildren. We often made every injected child cry! Still, we came back with the happy glow of having done a lot.”

It was surprising that they could rustle up funds from the public for all their projects. “Our diversity is our strength,” says Rema Ramchandran, banker and programme action chairperson. By approaching diverse areas, they managed to enable a number of good souls to contribute. For instance, as a member of the Business Network International (BNI), an American franchised networking company, Rema has convinced almost 243 corporates to pitch into SI’s recent fund-raising event. 

How did the busy women, who are also wives and mothers with families to run, manage to achieve so much so quickly in a cluttered, noisy city? Anuradha Pradeep, lawyer and current president, explains that the challenges are indeed immense. “We are strapped for time,” she acknowledges, “but collective action and networking has helped us to make up for it.” 

Jamuna Ravi, businessperson, adds, “We cannot all be involved in the projects all the time.” The women seemed to be swearing by some fundamental dictums: all hands on the mast and many drops make an ocean. Every member contributes something totally unique. For instance, Sujatha Balakrishnan, theatre artiste and former teacher, strides on the stage to create awareness and build empathy among the public. Prathibha Vinay, a botanist, is a walking trove of ayurvedic knowledge that she is struggling to transfer and Margaret Ponnaiah, a doctor, has not only treated hundreds of beneficiaries in the project, but has also made countless cakes, jams and sauces to generate funds.

The quality of work has helped  strengthen the organisation. The rules are fairly loose and flexible, but what keeps it afloat is that each member contributes just as much as she is willing or able to. The organisation was impressive enough to pull in even some big names, who agreed to become honorary members: writer Anita Nair, sportsperson Ashwini Nachappa, theatre artiste Arundhati Nag and Shukla Bose, founder of  Parikrma Humanity Foundation that runs schools for the underprivileged.

Why does the club have such an uncomfortable name, though? Jhuma Ghosh, businessperson, agrees that it is quite a mouthful. “It is a Latin word, meaning ‘best for women’,” she explains. She also acknowledges that it is probably not the best of words to make it memorable, yet the name remains, as it is part of a global volunteer movement. ‘

The global SI started as a club of 80 women in Oakland (USA) in 1921, but grew over the years to become a network of around 80,000 members in 130 countries and territories. Being a part of the associations of professionals, the women realised that bringing their unique skills and contacts was helping them to trigger off social transformation. 

Even you could join the rank, if you wish. Contact SI at 9243002034 or send an e-mail to [e-mail]. Read more about SI at www.sibangalore.com or check out their Facebook page.