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| Picture courtesy Sarvodaya Media unit |
It was around 10 AM on Wednesday (12th January). I was writing a report, at my office, when suddenly a twitter alert popped up, mentioning my name. It was from one of my friends, wanting to donate his money to Sarvodaya's efforts, but worried because the online payment gateway of Sarvodaya website was not responding.
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| The tweets from @AmiSampath that got my attention. |
Normally I would wait a while until I finished the report. That's how I manage twitter updates. But this one took my attention. I visualized the affected millions, and the ever so compassionate Sarvodaya field team with many volunteers, trying to help.
I got up, called few numbers from my mobile, and the technical matter was resolved in minutes. Thanks to Diyath Ariyaratne for speedy response !
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| @AmiSampath spreading the message after successful donation. |
I updated, replied, retweeted the new link, and my friend Ami Sampath was able to do the donation. Not only he donated, but was kind enough to Retweet and spread the message.
Later in the day, few close to Sarvodaya, yet in different time zones, hearing the need from Sri Lanka, rallied on their twitter pages to spread the " need of the moment". Thanks Aparna Ashok, Isabelle Finateu, And Daren Forsyth for passionate tweeting.
Tag Development, the organization Daren works for, also joined in with a campaign.
On Friday (14th Jan) Sarvodaya joined in with a FaceBook page to spread the message on the rising demands. So Facebook friends also came in to help, in their smallest efforts, which at the end of the day, goes a long way to help millions !
I am still sharing and retweeting all #flood updates that I lay my eyes on. Thank you friends, I salute all of you on behalf of Sarvodaya, and in the name of humanity.
You can still join compassionately by clicking and donating at http://www.sarvodaya.org/wp-content/themes/arzel_gray/donate.html
AND sharing this story to 10 of your closed ones will be of greatest merit.
May the weather be peaceful !
4 comments:
I'm a firm believer of the idea 'Social Media can mobilize people for social good'. When I got involved in 'Social Good Day Colombo' event, our effort was first to open the eyes of people to this idea. Social Media is not just for keeping in touch with friends; but it can be used for social good. It won't happen over night. We can't expect all people to jump into a bus and go to North & East for relief volunteering, but our tweets will at least 'plant' that initial 'idea' of 'getting involved'.
Little by little we see some of these efforts converting into tangible results. I've seen, Dialog too started a good campaign to raise flood relief funds via SMS donations, and used their Twitter account and FB page to build awareness. Good signs!
Yes Amitha. Truly agree with you. I also retweeted Dialog tweets. All are super signs of Sri Lankan mark of "Social Good". Let's hope more get on the social media bus ! :)
Social is the way to go
Hi Ashan, yes, sharing these little stories so many would jump in to the wagon...hopefully
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