Anshu Gupta, one of the two awardees of this year’s Ramon Magsaysay award, is the founder of non-profit organisation Goonj, an NGO which works in 21 states across India in the area of disaster relief, humanitarian aid and community development.
Mr. Gupta, an Ashoka andSchwab Fellow, started his career as a freelance journalist and then gave up his corporate job in 1998 to start Goonj with a mission to make clothing a matter of concern and to bring it among the list of subjects for the development sector. He has been listed by the Forbes magazine as one of India’s most powerful rural entrepreneurs.
Since it was established in 1999, Goonj has been able to convert 1,000 tonnes of used clothes, household goods and other urban discards into usable resources for the poor. Excerpts of an interview with The Hindu :
How does it feel to receive this honour?
It’s definitely a great recognition for me and my team. It has been a beautiful journey working for Goonj. I am happy that we have been able to change many lives in the course of time.
What was the inspiration behind starting Goonj and making cloth a charitable subject?
Different things affect different people. As a freelance journalist, I had once interviewed a man whose occupation was to cremate abandoned bodies. When I spoke to his daughter she told me that she would sometimes hug a corpse at night to feel warm during winters. This really affected me and I decided to do something about it. Clothes give a sense of dignity to the wearer and that is something I wanted to bring to the rural societies. We talk of food, clothing and shelter, but somehow, except during natural disasters, we forget about clothes altogether.
What are the challenges you faced when you started Goonj?
Right from monetary challenges to challenges of executing the plans, I faced a lot of troubles initially. But, gradually, things started falling in place.
Also, initially, I faced a lot of rejection when I told people that I want to donate clothes and make clothes a subject of charity.
People would tell me that there are other important things that need to be worked on like education, health, AIDS awareness, and so on. But, as we started playing an active part in relief and disaster management, people started to understand the ethos of Goonj.
How do you think your future and the organisation’s future will change from here on?
It’s not going to change much for me but of course for the organisation. More people will get to know about the kind of work we do. People will now understand the Goonj’s ethos.
Many people still think that we just take clothes from people and donate them. . Goonj is not just an organisation, nor are clothes just products, both are tools of change.
