Beyond fear lies freedom
I’ve experienced that my mind is a very fearful master and my heart is not strong enough to overcome the commands of this master. I always been taught to err on the side of caution and I am a...
Read morePosts by Ashima Goyal Siraj
The highs and lows of volunteering in Luanda, Angola
Today it’s exactly 20 months since I first landed in Luanda. It’s almost like yesterday. How excited and anxious I was. This was the first time, I was moving to a country of which I had...
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Esperança- Hope on the street
Hope is the only word that comes to me when I recollect what was it that I saw today. This morning I went to a public park in the middle of Luanda city. Something tells me it must have been a great...
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Feito com Amor
It started at a morning tea session, when a friend of mine said “For Christmas, I want to make a nice gift bag for the ladies with dry food items like rice, milk powder, oil and some...
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Being Palanca
Palanca is an endangered species of the Angolan wildlife but it is more than just that. It’s a national symbol that represents – Peace, Tolerance, Unity, Self-esteem and preservation of...
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Idgah
Couldn’t help but share this beautiful story Idgah by Munshi Premchand today on Eid. A beautiful story of love, kindness and sacrifice on the festival which is marked by these beautiful...
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On a blind date...
I felt like I was going on a blind date. It had been two months since I moved to Angola and after spreading the word out that I was looking for a volunteering opportunity in luanda; one fine day;...
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Just another story…
“What are stories but a way of helping us see the world and each other better.” I heard this in one of Pavi’s talk on giftivism and was amazed by the simplicity yet the deep...
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Volunteering: Lost in Definitions?
Last weekend when I was volunteering with children in an aparment complex in Indore my sister had asked me “But these are not under-privileged kids; why do you wish to volunteer with...
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Souls Connected by Service
17th October 2013; 7am; kotma, Uttarakhand Gopal kaka is 88. Joseph ji is 45. One lives in Ahemedabad, the other is a seeker and a wanderer. They have never met. Yet I felt a beautiful...
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Serving in Uttarakhand
3rd October 2013; 1433 hrs; village Kotma, Uttarakhand Am I really serving? This is the question I have come to ask myself repeatedly in the last few days. In July, when I had this urge to come...
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Stories that Travel
I was in a fix while coming up with a title for this post… should it be about storytelling or should it be about random acts of kindness? What follows is a beautiful account of both. But what...
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Meet Omkaar - a gift economy astronomer
As part of our preparation to leave India and move to Africa, we took a road trip in India. A last outing – just the three of us – me, my husband and our car. We had no agenda;...
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Kirtibhai's Generosity at the June Retreat
When I first met Kirti, I felt that I knew him from before. All I had heard is that he is this thin little boy who was always enthusiastic and always smiling. I saw him in a crowd and I knew this...
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An Experiment in Trust
25 years ago, my home was said to be in the outskirts of a city. It was on a highway with a Km. No. 14 milestone right outside the house and that exactly was our address – Km. No. 14; Tonk...
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Letters to Strangers
It’s amazing how an idea transforms into action. And before that it’s amazing how ideas come into being. I was reading an article on Daily Good on how to change the world in...
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Kindness with Smile Decks
A SMILE card is a gift from someone who received it before you. Since it’s an anonymous gift, you cannot pay anyone back; but you can ‘pay-it-forward’ to allow future...
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