• What are some of the ways people can help others in the community? Which one is most important?
Well, the community is constituted of some people who follow some common rules and share some common views. They have frequent interactions. So, there are a large number of chances to help the others in any specific community. I think the most important thing is spreading education to others. There are many people who are highly educated and on the other hand, the remaining others are uneducated or semi-educated. So, the educated should take responsibility to spread the light of education to the others. Besides, people may fall in distress like they may be in need of financial assistance or any other administrative help to solve some their issues. Here the other community members could contribute. They could contribute with financial assistance or they may help get the desired administrative help if they have any influence over the local administration.
• Why do you think some people like to help other people?
Thanks for such an impressive question. There are a wide number of people around us and most of them are not willing to help the others instead they try taking advantages. But there are some people who really want to help others and I think their families are responsible for growing such an adorable mentality. You know, a family is the first educational institution for the children and most of the social learning they receive is from their respective families. So, when we see a positive attitude among them, it should be acknowledged that the attributives are the gift of their families. Besides, there are some other people who like to help others, naturally and they do not need any learning for that. They are great people, indeed but the number of such people is less in the existing context.
• Some people say that people help others in the community more now than they did in the past. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
The statement is partially correct and I do not completely agree with this. It appears to me that people were more helpful in the past days in a community and now many of them have become self-centred. They do not actually care for others unless they also suffer from the same problems. But in the past days, when one of the community members fell in distress or experienced some disorders, others used to rush to help him or her. But what is the situation in the current day? I think you will agree with me that most of the time people are engaged with their social accounts and checking-in to places they travel to. The bonding among the community members has been slacked off for several reasons. It also happens that a tenant in a flat is unaware of the neighbours. Everything has been mechanised. So, I think people helped each other in the past days than the current days.
• What types of services, such as libraries or health centres, are available to the people who live in your area? Do you think there are enough of them?
In my locality, Hyderabad in India, there are no such facilities. We do not have any common library for the use of all the people. But there are some health centres in some places, and they are not enough for the people living there, I think. There are two health centres in my locality and mostly they serve for pregnancy and family planning. But the centres should also deal with some other issues like water, sanitation and hygiene. Besides, the numbers of staffs in the centres are not enough. Each of the health centres has only five staffs including two doctors (one male and another female). But they cannot provide the required service to the patients there. Moreover, I feel the necessity of a public library and the local people have been appealing for past few years to the local administration to establish a library centre, but there are no initiatives at all.
• Which groups of people generally need the most support in a community? Why?
Usually, the senior citizens of a community are the most vulnerable section. They have served the nation and with the passage of time, they are now unable to do something for their living. Thus, they are in great need of support in a community. Being aged, they lose the ability to work for their living and has to rely on their family and the community. But unfortunately, in most of the cases, they are denied their rights. They lack access to social safety nets or in any other supportive events initiated by the public and private organisations as they are unable to interact with them. So, they are in need of support than any other groups in a community.
• Who do you think should pay for the services that are available to the people in a community? Should it be the government or individual people?
Well, this is an important aspect of living in a community. Usually, a community is a space where some people live together in a locality and they pay a notable amount to the government in the form of taxes. So, to have the common services, the government should take necessary steps. It is the government which is receiving the taxes from its citizens and in return, it should execute the duties and responsibilities it promised to the citizens. There is no need for a government if all the activities are done by the citizens. Rather, the citizens elect a government to take care of themselves and provide them with the necessary services and facilities required to live in a community or society.
