News

Karuna: 30 years of compassion in action

Date: 10 February 2010

Karuna 2010 logo

Karuna was formed in 1980 as Aid for India, a response to the suffering of India’s Dalit community. For 30 years, Karuna has worked with some of South Asia’s most disadvantaged people, sending over £1 million every year to support low-caste and tribal communities, street children and refugees fulfil their potential through our social and Buddhists projects.

In this article, David Zukas, founder of Aid for India and a Karuna trustee, relates his experience of how the trust came into being:

“In the late 70’s I was a young man and had recently moved into a Buddhist community near the London Buddhist Centre and I was helping with some building work at the centre.

One day, the Chair of the London Buddhist Centre invited me to go for a walk with him. He told me he was looking for someone who willing to take on the challenge of a big fundraising project; someone who would take responsibility for raising £50,000 for social and Buddhist projects for the Dalit communities in India. This was an enormous amount of money in those days!

A small team had been in India since 1978 and were operating on a shoestring. In a short space of time they had realised that these communities faced serious social difficulties caused by caste discrimination with limited if non-existent access to health care and education.

In 1979 I visited India for the first time. One particular experience struck me. I was trying to get to sleep one evening, when I became aware of a small dog being attacked by a pack of wild dogs on a patch of wasteland near the hut where I was staying. I lay there listening to the whining of the savaged animal, and said to my companions, “Can’t we do anything?”. In that moment I realised what the situation was like for Dalits living in these conditions. Like the wild dogs roaming the wasteland, they were born into a life that was unsafe and lacking in compassion.

When I returned from India, I earnestly got to work by writing about my experiences of the projects and conditions I had witnessed. I had no fundraising skills or experience and worked out of a small room in the community where I lived, typing with my gloves on with only a paraffin heater for warmth!

I also consulted ‘Who’s Who’ looking for anyone with a connection or sympathy with India. In 6 months, my only response was from a couple in Hampstead. I eagerly went to the appointment and thought the chat went well. Afterwards I was asked by my fundraising mentor ‘Did you close?’ - I had forgotten to make the all important ‘ask’. I was on a fast learning curve!

Those first six months were tough but I was motivated by my experiences of the Dalit’s conditions in India.”

80% of Karuna’s work is supported by thousands of individuals across the UK who, having met with a Karuna fundraiser has decided to make a regular contribution to the social and Buddhist work in South Asia.

Out of such humble beginnings, Karuna now supports hundreds of thousands of people across South Asia supporting projects that are building dignity, challenging discrimination and supporting people’s practice of Buddhism.