During our grad days, I had a novel by AJ Cronin - Citadel - to study for the General English paper. The premise of the novel is philanthropy and how helping others without your left hand knowing what your right hand does helps one to achieve success in personal/professional life. It influenced me a lot though I could never keep secrets from others not to mention my left hand!
I forgot about it until Mira brought up an excerpt for me to explain recently - she had it for supplementary English and her teacher to my horror told the class it was the most boring lesson ever. Clearly someone who hadn't read the book.
I am a member of a few Facebook groups on buy& sell and giveaways now, though I discovered them too late. Until then, I foisted the kids' hand-me-downs on my brother's family or to my maid's family. Last year, I discovered a pay it forward group and managed to donate some of Mira's clothes to a north Indian lady who said she would rather save money on clothes and use them on books. I didnt have the same luck with Ash's clothes as the lady who showed interest said she didnt drive - probably expecting me to door deliver it. So they remained in the loft, and I donated some to my Sri lankan maid when she was going to her home town. Still I had a bag full of branded clothes which I decided I should put in the charity bin downstairs.
As an afterthought, I posted it in another Help group for moms. The response was beyond belief and I was at a loss to decide whom to give it to. So I divided the clothes, even buying a few to meet the demand.
One lady said she needed them as her son's uniform was not available yet and she fancied Ash's denim jacket. I bought a couple of shirts and shorts for her sons as I had promised two others _ a Pak lady and a Filipino who collected by courier. To my surprise, she turned out to be a malloo and not Pak as I had assumed. Mira's clothes were distributed amongst a Filipino, a Lankan and some await delivery.
However after a week of philanthropy, I discovered that some of them were lying or collecting it to sell or because they were free. The Lankan who said she and her new husband were cheated by a recruitment agent and they had no money was collecting children's clothes and baby food - probably for the family they were living with. A Paki lady in dire straits was collecting furniture - possibly to sell - by being the first to answer give-away posts. She asked me for a school bag, a trolley one if possible which I said I couldnt, and sent her a used Adidas bag instead. I also ordered provisions on Amazon for her as she said her husband was out of a job.
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