“Making a difference”

Change can be brought about by anyone. Age is just a number. The youth of Chennai are redefining the meaning to ‘working for a cause’ by making stellar changes in the city with their initiatives.

Deeptha Sreedhar

Do you know what gives me the biggest sense of happiness and accomplishment in life? It is not going to the movies or chilling out with friends. As the name of popular Facebook page goes: ‘Happiness is, working for a cause!’ And happiest feeling is witnessing a change that we initiated. 

From working towards educating underprivileged kids to cleaning the beaches, providing shelter and care for animals, we youth are involved in it all. Contrary to popular beliefs, these volunteering activities do not eat up much time from my schedule. Besides, they prove to be great form of stress-buster! 

According to a study, an average urban Indian youth spends close to three hours on the Social Networking site Facebook. Compared to that whopping time spent every day, a couple of hours during the weekends seem very nominal. Isn’t it? Change need not be initiated in the massive aspect alone. Slow and steadily, many small NGOs across Chennai have proven their worth in implementing big changes across the place.

The organisation that I work for is called the ‘Bhumi’. The main cause that we undertake is teaching for underprivileged kids who attend both government and semi-private schools. Apart from routine textual learning, we offer basic computer and spoken English classes for these kids. 

Among the many perks of working for such causes is the respect that one earns from everyone. Monetary contribution alone is never enough for bringing about a change as money cannot instill knowledge or protect animals from harsh environment. It is we humans who can bring about physical change.

At the end of the day, the smile that we put on the kids’ face is worth the reward and is better than any material or monetary benefit! So what are you waiting for? Step out and start the change!