On Goonj

Update: the Goonj website is up and running again – there was some problem with it last week when I had posted the note on goonj – do have a look now!

I had blogged about Goonj a few years ago in Clothes Line – and I forgot about them till the time I sat staring at things I wanted to not carry with me when I moved to Bangalore. Clothes, some old, some new but never worn (and let’s face it, I will *never* fit into now), cassettes (ah, don’t get me started on that), old magazines (a few years of Outlook Traveller and then some) and lots more. I wanted to give them away, but where and how?

And a friend reminded me of Goonj – we went over with the large packets. It felt good to declutter. And it felt even better, knowing the clothes and the rest of the things would be used well. Goonj accepts and recycles / uses all kinds of things – from old magazines and newspapers to clothes and blankets.

I received their newsletter a few days ago and wanted to share it here – For us Clothing has always been a core issue, for more than a decade now we are struggling to dignify the act of giving, trying to add value to cloth contribution, trying to tell people that when you talk about 3 basic needs, you say food, cloth and shelter; then why has cloth become a disaster relief material only? Why do we think that people in remote villages need clothes only when we find out about a flood or an earthquake there? Do you really think that half the world needs a disaster to be helped? Is poverty itself not a big disaster? It’s not hard to believe that many more people die in winters due to lack of clothes than earthquake or floods? Winters are a much bigger and regular disaster.. For that matter even menses are a monthly disaster for every single woman who is forced to use ash, sand, jute gunny bags, or grass as sanitary pad due to lack of a small piece of cloth.

Goonj is an entirely volunteer-run initiative. So please head now to their website and think about how you can help – it can be as simple as an old newspaper collection drive in your locality or building. They have a lot of immediate requirements – I will be happy to forward you their latest email with details of what they need right away. Do see how you can help.