A Personal Note
Many of you have expressed genuine concern that I am not being sufficiently compensated for my work on The Conscious Politics Sunday Newsletter. I appreciate that very much and, for sure, it will change after you’ve been grandfathered in to a forever-free subscription while future comers pay for theirs. :)
Until then, however, there is this, which occurred to me recently to share with you. I have been running an ongoing campaign for a couple of years on GoFundMe in support of a family in India I love and have become a part of.
The family is my adopted brother, Amit; his wife, Bhagwati; his mother, “Mama;” and his three children, Dhruv, Anushka, and Jitu. The campaign was originally to help him become an entrepreneur, in business for himself, with his own tuk-tuk, which we did, as illustrated here by his daughter:
Amit is illiterate in his own language and is the sole breadwinner of his family. The project was about helping to lift them out of poverty and it is definitely working. But we didn’t have enough to buy the tuk-tuk outright so outside support is still usually needed for its monthly payments — especially now as they emerge from a second lockdown. I keep the campaign going in a very low-key way. I’m not on Facebook, and have never “shared widely.”
FYI, more than 96¢ of every dollar goes directly to them. Dollars go a relatively long way in Delhi and, if you are so inclined, this is an excellent way to help me help them. I am looking this summer to have enough in reserves to offer up when it’s most needed. Amit never asks for anything but has certainly come to know that I and my “friend circle” have his back as much as we can.
There is plenty of info on the campaign itself — check “Updates” — and please reach out to me directly with any questions or comments about any of it. Thank you so much for considering supporting this project in any way that feels right.
P E A C E & L O V E ,
Steven