FUND DRIVE
It Turned Out Nothing Like I Expected
For one of our assignments, we had to run a fund drive, so we went to Tipu Sultan Food Street to raise money for the Edhi Foundation and the Akhuwat Foundation. It’s a fancy place, and I had a certain expectation from the start: people wouldn’t take our work seriously, they’d brush it off, and they probably wouldn’t give anything. That’s not what happened.
The First Uncle
The first person we approached was an uncle. He told us it was very good that we were working so hard in such heat for other people. Then, with a lot of warmth, he said he would give us money as soon as we took a picture with his family. A restaurant worker also appreciated what we were doing, and that meant a lot to us too.
These reactions gave us a real boost of positivity and motivation. They also made me wonder whether people truly realize how important it is to fund work like this.
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Not Everyone Said Yes
We kept going, sometimes approaching people on our own and sometimes as a group, switching between the two. Convincing people and keeping them engaged wasn’t easy, and every response was different.
Some said they couldn’t hear us or couldn’t see what we were showing them. Some called out “No, I’m not interested” from a distance, and others simply ignored us, even though all we wanted was to talk.
The People Who Gave the Most
Then there were the people who surprised us. One uncle gave an amount and left, but his children suggested he give more, so he came back and gave again. The rickshaw uncles gave generously too, and one of them gave twice.
Even the beggars there gave us money. In the end, we collected Rs 22,000 in just two and a half hours. And the very first Rs 10 we received came from one of those beggars.
