Next step — Can Kindness Scale?
I left CodeChef around a couple of weeks back after trying to drive its vision for the last 12 years. It was my second job in a career spanning almost 17 years.
So far in my professional career, I have always gone with the flow and have given all that I could to whatever opportunities came my way. I was lucky and privileged that those were excellent opportunities and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. And, I am grateful too.
Having spent these many years doing what came my way, I have decided to take some time off and try out various things before I take the plunge for my next stint.
As a part of this exercise, I have come across a very interesting non-profit organization and I would like to share with you all, that I will be spending a significant amount of my time with them in the coming future. Mitti Social Initiatives Foundation runs a chain of cafes under the brand, Mitti Cafe. It was started by Alina Alam in 2017 and they train and employ people with disability (PWD) to run cafes in various corporates, hospitals, and even open places. This also helps create awareness about inclusion and disability rights.
I was amazed to find out the impact that this tiny team of extremely passionate girls is making on the lives of the most disadvantaged section of our world, by providing them economic independence and more importantly the dignity to live.
If you think that is hard enough, what they have taken up during this pandemic is even more challenging. These PWD’s are not just living their life of dignity, they have taken a step further to help the other disadvantaged people by cooking and sharing meals with them. It was heartwarming to know that they have already distributed more than 13 lakh meals (termed Karuna meals) since the pandemic started last year!
The single most thing that drives them is kindness! But the question that worries me is “Can kindness scale?” This question is what made me get associated with them. I hope I will find my answers soon.
In the meantime, please check out what they are doing.
And in case you want to contribute in any way, let me know. You can either donate or volunteer. We need everyone to be part of this endeavour. Kindness is the only criteria. Come with plenty of it.
