Can you support Social Change and Development?
India is a breathtaking place for many reasons. It is exotic and tantalizing, chaotic and stimulating. Being rich in culture, India takes tourists and unravels them from what they thought was life and introduces them to a very different way of experiencing the world, which some people find addictive. You have to go back!
This was my experience, so in the Summer of 2010 I packed up my room in London and went to Tamil Nadu for six months to work with a non-governmental organisation called ‘Social Change and Development’ (SCAD). Tucked in my bag was my trusted incognito, which I have used many times before and I always like to have handy.
Whilst I was staying in the SCAD guesthouse there were a number of volunteers coming and going. During the rainy season (late September-December) I suddenly became very popular, not for my charming wit and irresistible smile, but for my incognito – people were coming to find me especially – because with the rain came the mosquitoes.
One of my friends describes it like this:
‘I apply incognito on my arms, legs, feet and neck every morning and evening resulting in mosquito bites being almost totally eliminated and therefore heavily reducing the risk of infection. I am ecstatic. No need to worry anymore.”
The team at incognito generously gave SCAD enough incognito to ensure the local staff and volunteers who go out there this year will not be harrassed by mosquitos come the next rainy season. Thank you incognito!
SCAD is a savior for thousands of people living in remote villages in dry regions of Tamil Nadu. Lead by an inspirational local figurehead oozing with integrity, SCAD is an Indian NGO, made up of Indian staff, and therefore can provide local people with the support and materials that most help them at the lowest cost.
SCAD provide health care, education, support women’s groups, organise training, run micro-finance initiatives, lead in local green projects and tree planting, support farmers, create access to water and sanitation, provide kitchen gardens, care for the elderly and disabled, engage people in new ways to make sustainable incomes and do a whole lot more. I was blown away but how much the organisation is in service to their community and how much this changes people’s lives.
SCAD are a relatively unknown organisation in the rest of the world and I decided that when I came back to the UK I was going to help work for SCAD. I believe that we live in an international community and I want to help where I can. Also I believe their story and their work needs a bigger profile.
If you have any spare time or any spare pennies and want to help please check out our website www.scad.org.in.
If you want to sponsor a child please go to https://www.scad.org.in/get-involved/sponsor-a-child/.
We are especially looking for communities or corporate partners who want to sponsor whole village development and we are always looking for volunteers and fundraisers.
You can follow us on twitter @SCADcharity and find us on facebook here https://www.facebook.com/pages/Social-Change-and-Development-SCAD/185791994800342 and you can contact me at katie@scad.org.in
Thank you
Katie