When Our Needs Are Met - We Thrive!
If you're like me you will be in disbelief that it is already the end of February. With March around the corner, the month we celebrate International Women’s Day and Harmony Day, it is timely to reflect on the importance of inclusion, equity for all and social cohesion.
Early this month I had the pleasure and privilege of speaking at a conference in Bangalore, India, my father’s birthplace. The conference was attended by 4500 leaders, philanthropists and change agents of all ages, from all sections of the community and many industries. I spoke of the power we all have to impact change, small or large if we exist in an environment where we feel supported, empowered and have a sense of belonging. Safety and inclusion is everything. If these basic human needs are met we are able to tap into the resources and fortitude we all possess to blossom and create ripples of change in our lives and the lives of others.
The conference attendees not only understood and were living this mindset but were committing their lives to create these supportive, empowering environments for those living in poverty and suffering in their country.
The story from this conference that impacted me the most was that of the Dabbawalas. Dabbawalas are a world-famous lunch delivery network. Over 120 years ago the organisation was set up to collect and deliver hot lunches from homes and restaurants to workers all over Mumbai using largely unskilled and illiterate workers who bicycled the ‘dabbas’ or tiffin boxes of lunches all over the city. There is nothing like this network anywhere else in the world and it has been the subject of a Harvard University case study. Today, it is estimated that they deliver over 120 tonnes of homemade food to over 200,000 people in Mumbai.
Although famed for their efficiency, rarely delivering a solo wrong lunch box, the organisation noticed it had a wastage problem amounting to an estimated 16 tonnes of food. Over seven years ago, the Dabbawalas set out to provide a solution to the severe malnutrition problem affecting over half of Mumbai’s children under three. In teaming up with a charity The Happy Life Welfare Society, the Share Your Dabba campaign was set up.
Through the campaign, people could elect to share their leftover lunches with the city’s hungry children by placing a ‘share’ sticker on their lunch boxes. If they did this their leftover lunch would be collected and re-delivered to street children within two hours.
Food wastage has been minimised to almost nothing, thousands of children in the city are getting at least one hot meal a day and the ripple effect of this has, I’m sure, been incredible. With the children’s basic needs of sustenance and nutrition being met, they no longer have to resort to petty crime, are able to attend school, enabling them to support their families and communities long term.
Such a simple concept addresses such a basic need with such a huge impact.
Whilst most of us take food for granted this campaign reminded me that if our basic needs are not met we are unable to blossom and realize our full potential.
For us living in a more privileged and affluent society it may not be one hot meal a day, but it might be the opportunity to be considered equally for a particular job, be included in a important conversation or be heard when challenging poor treatment of others.
We can all play a part in ensuring the basic needs of our families, friends, co-workers and neighbours are met. When we all play our part that is when we thrive together as a truly inclusive and cohesive community.
