The first film "The Day My God died" talked about the trafficking of Nepali girls into Bombay's sprawling red light district. 

It was heartbreaking to hear how girls were duped into being sex workers and how little regard brothel owners, law enforcement and the men that visited them had for the girls. The youngest girl featured in the film was forced into prostitution at 7.  She, along with the other girls featured were all HIV positive by the time they had managed to break free of the brothels that had illegally purchased them.

One thing led to another and when I went home to think about the sad state of affairs our world was in, I broke out my copy of Half The Sky for a re-reading. 

Nicholas Kristof (the co-author of the book) has been accused of many things. In recent times, the criticism was mainly for his silence about his previous support of Somaly Mam. A quick search online show many academics and keyboard warriors criticizing him for his methods and portraying him as someone with the commonly talked about 'White Savior Complex'. 

For all of you that haven't read Half The Sky and are interested in the education and healthcare of females and human rights, I suggest you pick it up.

Half The Sky was later made into a documentary which drew quite a bit of heat. I haven't watched the film but I do find the book incredibly enlightening and balanced. I especially like that focus is placed on many ground up initiatives and not just centered around a single figure or organization - Quite unlike Debbie Rodriguez's Kabul Beauty School or Greg Mortenson's Three Cups Of Tea. Half The Sky also acknowledges that NGOs don't have all the answers and that they themselves make mistakes and I think this is something people need to remember. That sometimes a well-meaning programme can fall flat or have larger negative repercussions than you could possibly imagine.

There are always distractors and as I found myself going down the rabbit hole of negativity that Internet often breeds, I thought to myself: When it comes to charitable causes what actually counts as helping? 






I mulled over this question for awhile before coming to the conclusion below. I think that as long as you can place yourself in any one of the four stages below, you are helping.

However, I also believe that to continue to be helpful to a cause or effort in a long term, you need to progress through the stages. You can take however long you need but the end game (as long as you are able) should be stage four.

1. Awareness is great

Many causes start with the building of awareness and honestly that's the fundamental block to getting an issue out there. Film screenings, individual stories, talks, forums, presentations, charity auctions, charity marathons.. The idea is simple, get people to sit up and take notice.

Even though I've had some exposure to the subject of human trafficking, I was still horrified to find out that the amount of money human trafficking generated. For the record, the capital generated is about $32 billion a year. This amount is less than what the drug industry generates and more than the profits made from arms dealings. 

With many issues, it is impossible to read all the material available or find out about everything at one time. Being constantly exposed to information and sources of knowledge means that you just learn more each time.

2. Awareness is great but self driven research makes it even better 

I have a very addictive nature when it comes to finding out about things I've decided I have an interest in. Once I've found something I feel I need to know about, I actively seek out knowledge about it.

While I'm not sure how my brain is wired to pick these interests and I've spent a large amount of time reading about 21st century subcultures, Korean Pop, entertainment news...I've also spent a large amount of time looking into causes that I believe in. Hopefully you guys have more self control than I have and spend your time online more wisely.

With the internet, everything is at your fingertips. Find out more about organisations involved in helping the cause and sign up to their newsletters. Read about the people involved. Follow pages on Facebook. 

I know that often once you start looking deeply into the problem you may start to think that it is larger than you can help with.

Changes seems to involve too much bureaucracy. Change seems to involve politicians, governments, people from countries so unlike ours. It may seem like it is a cultural issue that you have mixed thoughts about getting involved in. It may be an issue of perception that would take generations to shift.  

Don't feel discouraged. Just remember that we are all part of this world and every bit we help, helps to keep the world moving to become a better place. Nothing will get done if we just roll over and let injustices continue to happen. It is idealistic but even if we don't get to see the major changes, perhaps the future generations will.

No change was ever set in motion with someone thinking 'Yes, that is sad but too bad the problem is too complex" 

3. Sharing and discussion multiplies the positive effects  

By now, you should already know about an issue and have a signifiant amount of knowledge about it. You would have found out things that break your heart and that you simply wish were not true.

Now what?

Tell your family, your friends, tell people you know.

Post on Facebook. Share your views. Chances are you will annoy some people but you know what? If you believe enough in a cause and if you've done your research, you won't feel let down by your support.

You'll also start to find that some of your peers share the same concerns and feelings about the cause. While you shouldn't be afraid to find out more or help out with a cause just because you are going at it alone, support always makes it easier and more enjoyable. 

On this note though, it is very important that you respect that other people are allowed to have views other than your own. 

I have noticed that I have friends who constantly post things from 'pro-family' groups who I feel are horrible examples of human beings. However, I don't see a need to hijack their posts and use them as my personal soapbox. Likewise, I'm sure they disagrees with all the marriage equality statuses I post but they don't come and push their agenda on my timeline. Or perhaps my updates have just been blocked. I'd like to think that's not the case though. 

It is also important to note that some people are going to be apathetic. It isn't wrong. There are always going to be causes that resonate better with certain people. When I first started helping out with migrant workers, I heard many micro-aggressive comments from my peers. Some of my acquaintances were
outrightly judgmental. Until now, only a handful have expressed any interest in coming along with me or finding out more. Some of my closer friends have no choice but to listen to how heartbroken I am sometimes but I know deep down they aren't as invested as I am. But you know what it's fine. 

We pick what we feel connected to.. Don't feel slighted or judge your friends if they don't pick the same thing.

4. Now all that is all good and well, now let's all DO something 
(And I don't mean to hashtag an instagram photo. That if anything falls under (although very loosely) stage one. 

I realise that I may come off a little bitchy as I say this but, the biggest and perhaps most valuable step is to DO something. While it is great that we have all these feelings about how lucky we are and how sad life is for other people. Those people cannot eat your well-wishes.

This is the part I know most people struggle with. I myself have yet to actively become involved in all the causes I feel strongly about. I pitch in some time with TWC2 but as work and life get more hectic, I find myself struggling to volunteer as much time and I feel poorly about how slowly I'm gaining knowledge that could help these workers. That being said (and I swear I'm not trying to make excuses for myself) I believe that every bit still counts.

Organisations need help and money to keep fighting for the causes they believe in. Often, people are looking for a big way to help out. We seek out volunteer trips to orphanages and to build schools and look for a way to help out in large flashy campaigns.

The fact of the matter is sometimes, the best way for us to help is to open our wallets.
While you should do your research as to where your money is going (I won't get into that) money is sometimes the most helpful thing to give. Money allows organisations to to fund their programmes, to hire professionals to do the job well, larger organisations may need money for advertising and promotions.. Well you get the idea.

Of course your time is always important. By getting involved, you immerse yourself in the cause. You soak up more information and you find out more ways you can help. You become a walking billboard for what you believe in. It's often not going to be glamourous and you sometimes don't really feel like you are contributing at all (I often feel this way) but the idea is to do what you can to help keep the organisations running effectively.

Bear in mind that based on your expertise (or lack there of) some of these things you'll have to do may seem menial and boring. However, your help allows more qualified volunteers and staff to utilise their abilities better.

It doesn't have to be a big grand gesture. For example, everyone seems to want to go overseas and build schools or help at orphanages. However, volunteer-tourism is often a waste of money and resources because the two weeks you've put into helping a village build a school is useless if they cannot fund the hiring of teachers or if parents would rather their children work in the fields than have lessons. 

This area is a little murky for me because while it has become quite common for people have strong opinions about 'White Savior Complex' and privileged youngsters getting involved because it is trendy or just to make themselves feel better about themselves, I do believe that there is some merit in some of these trips simply because it gives people a first hand experience and definitely helps people feel more connected to the cause.

I also believe that if done properly and with the right intentions, many of these people will go home, talk to more people about it and continue to help the cause. Do I think that's exploitive? To a certain degree, but the world isn't black and white and there are often no perfect solutions.

On a personal note though, I would however, stay away from short volunteer trips to orphanages and centres housing young children. Apart from the fact that it has been widely reported that some of these places only exist to milk money from the sympathetic tourists, it just doesn't seem like children should be put through having to deal with transient volunteers and tourists.

Of course I realise that many of us have time and budget constraints. However, often these constraints are also excuses. I can think of many times when I've thought to myself "This has been such a tough week, I think I'll skip helping today." Sometimes I do skip the week while other times I head down to find that my presence there was actually helpful.

Ultimately, be truthful to yourself when it comes to if you can spare the time and money.

The first steps are often the hardest. It took me awhile to get all my shit together. I hemmed and hawed before making the arrangements and actually starting to help out.

A year on, I don't regret it at all.

Regardless of if you are toying of finding out more about a cause that means something to you or deciding if you should go to that informative talk or exhibit, here is my encouragement to you, DO IT.

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