Melbourne University: Essay on NGO Experience - Action on Poverty

This essay reflects on a student's experience volunteering with the NGO 'Action on Poverty' in Melbourne, Australia. The author describes their involvement in a 3-day workshop organized for children from an orphanage, many of whom were from Kenya and South Africa and had experienced poverty and abandonment. The essay details the activities of the workshop, including a cultural show and a fair to raise funds. The author reflects on the impact of this experience, emphasizing the importance of community responsibility, empathy, and the need to address the root causes of poverty. The essay highlights the NGO's ethical practices and its broader mission of breaking the cycle of poverty in South Asia and Africa. It concludes with the author's personal learning and a call to action for individuals to contribute positively to society.

Essay on Experience of working with NGO
Essay on Experience of working with NGO.
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Essay on Experience of working with NGO 1
Introduction
I am pursuing my graduate degree from a xyz university in Australia. Australia is a
prosperous country with a population of 25,390,100 in 2019 and it has a land area of 25,390,100
Sqkm. This proves that Australia is among one of the most prosperous countries and there is no
such problem of food shortage or poverty. Recently I went to a Not for profit organization for my
field work workshop included in my course project in Melbourne. The “Action On poverty” an
accredited Australian NGO, with branches in many south Asian countries. It is a secular,
independent and evidence based NGO that works on principle of breaking poverty cycle for
good. They work not only to eradicate poverty but eliminate the cause of it. I attended a program
organized by their team in the city. I also successfully attracted some people to come along with
me to attend the 3 days program (Action on Poverty, 2019).
We went to an orphanage where there were more than 150 children. Some were very
young and some little older. They were in a very delicate condition. Some were suffering from
medical issues. These children were from Kenya and South Africa. These children were from the
backward society and most of them were abandoned from their parents or some were orphaned at
a very young age. They were rescued from a racket some months back and were recovering from
the shock. We were there in a group of 30 people. Our job was to organize a camp where we
could arrange money for these children. We organized a camp where almost everyone who was
interested to contribute or wants to meet them and share a smile could attend. It was a 3 day
“Share a Smile” work shop. Even the thought that someone is caring about you makes the heart
full of hope and faith. Thus the idea behind the workshop was to give them that joy of care and
love (Tinnemann et al, 2011).
This was my first time that I was in association with this kind of workshop. I was very
excited and looking forward to a new experience. My fellow team members were also happy to
be the part of this camp. I will be pursuing a professional life in future where my job will be to
work for corporate people (Dowling, 2019). A world which will be money oriented and wants
only profit. So this was a great escape from this kind of world. My learning from this 3 day
campaign changed my thought process. Life is not only about waking up in the morning and
going on work. A 9 to 6 job is all that we get as rewards after completing the studies. In the end

Essay on Experience of working with NGO 2
what we get, is not the amount or earning but only corporate experience which is a mix of sweet
and sour gifts (Wien et al, 2019).
The campaign gave us opportunity to meet children who suffered so much in this young
age. They have seen poverty, disease, loneliness and exploitation. The pain in their eyes was so
deep that it moved me from within. I worked with the people of the NGO and felt very satisfied.
They sacrifice so much to help these young kids to live a normal life. They have given
everything in this service. The happiness that they get from this work is immeasurable. The first
day of the program we arranged some cultural show with a help of a folk dance group. Than on
the next day we arranged fair in which we sold hand crafted stuffs made by these children (Israel
et al, 2019). Every one participated and felt overwhelmed. We collected a good amount of
money to be donated to these kids. On the third day it was an awareness camp where everyone
one was invited and we shared the pamphlet about global issues. How to curb them and how we
can together solve the problem. This organization is connected with many other NGO and work
together in a big group to rescue children, solve poverty issue in south Asian and African
countries. They are very successful with the help of many donations from the big corporate.
They are known to do ethical work and have never surfaced as an illegal or unethical
organization (De Agostini & Hudson, 2019).
My experience as a member of team was wonderful. I never worked in this type of
campaign and this was the best experience. The smile on the face of the children filled my heart
with happiness. The kids were so innocent they just looked at us as if we are going to bring back
their parents or maybe we are the one to care them for life. I wish that could happen, but this
journey was only for 3 days. And in this three day it taught me the biggest learning. That one
should never stop caring about others; everyone should be a little more responsible towards the
society. We should try to come out of a self centered thought process and think as a community.
If one section of the community is suffering than it is very obvious that the impact will be
on every one. The whole community will suffer may be not today but in future. Now let’s break
this, if these children are suffering today because of the ignorance of the society or the cruelty. In
some years they shall be growing up as bad guys and they will be disturbing the society in return.
It is not just the responsibility of the NGO to keep these children safe and work on irradiation of
the poverty alone. It is the duty of everyone (Churchill & Smyth, 2017). Whoever wants a better

Essay on Experience of working with NGO 3
life has to work towards it by contributing in a positive manner to the society. This is great
learning if we want to stop our suffering we have to heal the wounds of others who are suffering.
This is not the only job of the NGOs but of every individual who is directly or indirectly
responsible for the prosperous economy.
Reference;
Action on Poverty (2019). How We Work - Action on Poverty - Making hope possible. [online]
Action on Poverty. Available at: https://actiononpoverty.org/about-us/how-we-work/
[Accessed 12 Jun. 2019].
Churchill, S. A., & Smyth, R. (2017). Ethnic diversity and poverty. World Development, 95, 285-
302.
De Agostini, P., & Hudson, N. (2019). Child poverty in Scotland: forecasting the impact of
policy options.
Dowling, M. (2019). Social work and poverty: Attitudes and actions. Routledge.
Israel, B. A., Schulz, A. J., Coombe, C. M., Parker, E. A., Reyes, A. G., Rowe, Z., &
Lichtenstein, R. L. (2019). Community-based participatory research. Urban Health, 272.

Essay on Experience of working with NGO 4
Tinnemann, P., Pastätter, R., Willich, S. N., & Stroebele, N. (2011). Healthy action against
poverty: a descriptive analysis of food redistribution charity clients in Berlin,
Germany. The European Journal of Public Health, 22(5), 721-726.
Wien, F., Denis, J., Dockstator, J. S., Dockstator, M. S., Duhaime, G., Loppie, C., ... &
Whiteduck, J. (2019). First Nation paths to well-being: lessons from the Poverty Action
Research Project. Global health promotion, 26(3_suppl), 6-16.