Altrustic youth opt for NGOs

With various NGOs being set up across cities, many socially-conscious youngsters are wanting give up their multinational/corporate jobs and work for NGOs in a bid to do their bit for the community.

 In a conversation with these youngsters, we found out what motivated them to ditch high paying jobs and work in the social sector for the betterment of the community around them.

There is still a lack of awareness on autism and differently-abled people. Juhi Ramani, who works with autistic kids says, “My brother was an autistic kid, diagnosed with the condition when he got infected with typhoid. The trouble my family and I went through motivated me to work with autistic kids and also to create awareness in the society. The satisfaction of working for such a cause can’t beat the satisfaction of working for a job that pays lakhs.”

Working for an NGO is no less compared to working for a multinational company. Shwetha Guhan works towards equity in education and was motivated by her father to work in a sector that promotes education. She says, “I grew up in a home that really built up my social awareness and made me realise the privileges I had. My father motivated me to work towards giving children in low income families a good push to a better life. The decision to work for the social sector was already made up when I was working as Teach for India fellow. I feel that working in an area which is my passion definitely helps me to work with a positive drive even in challenging times.”

Youngsters are working rather than completing their education to support their families. Rudra Iyer works towards education of students and youngsters says, “Initially I was working for an automobile MNC where I saw youngsters who had not even completed their 10th working under me. Looking at the state they were in motivated me to start volunteering in the social sectors. I think there is no clear understanding of how the social sector works in India. Living in a city, I have seen that the people here understand and also give an ear to what we do”.

Being educated and earning a high salary is not enough.  Anitha Kiramai who works towards the education of children says, “Waiting in traffic signals I saw little children, who are supposed to be at school studying, selling things. It is not fair that small children are made to sell things to earn money for food. My motivation to work  in the social field was inspired by this. I have never treated this like a job, it has become my passion. I think the society that we live in can be changed for the better only by the educated people,” she adds.