Any person at any point of time can be a victim of crime. They can be mugged, threatened, attacked or even killed. While we do not fully comprehend the amount of crime that happens around us, it happens nonetheless. Denying that crime is high in India, especially in cities, is quite pointless. While it is important to not blame the victims of crime, it is also important to be prepared for worst case scenarios.
It is important that the onus of a crime not be placed on the victim. This is especially true for victims of sexual crimes, who are made to feel that their trauma is their fault, a practice that allows offenders to get away.
Personal safety is not a way to fight crime in the long run. Crime cannot be obliterated with punitive measures. The only way to do this is by bringing about large scale social change. However, such measures do not help individual people walking about at night or alone in a deserted alleyway. The possible way to feel safe at these times is to know that if you encounter an attack, you can defend yourself. This is why personal safety and self-defense go hand in hand.
The chief difference between the two is that personal safety picks up from where self defense leaves off. Self defense involves inculcating in you the ability to fight back, while personal safety also encompasses key ideas like consent, abuse etc. These skills are particularly of importance to women, children and queer folk.
There are various ways in which personal safety skills can be incorporated. It can be taught in schools, in workshops in colleges and in universities. It can even be taught independently in separate after- hour classes. Since it is difficult to start discussions on these issues, much less expect people to pay for this kind of work, personal safety education should be imparted on a volunteer basis. Fundraising India can gather the money requisite to support a venture of this kind.
A great way of doing this is to organize them in local clubs, where people sit down to chat and children play after the day’s toils. You will need a few instructors to begin with, contacts with local neighborhoods, audio-visual help etc. These should not be too expensive in the beginning therefore, crowdfunding online should not be a lengthy business.
There are plenty of crowdfunding platform in India. Out of these you should choose the one that suits you best. Most international crowdfunding platforms are too busy to pay close attention to your specific project. What you need are crowdfunding sites that pay attention to campaigns like yours and manage to do good work. No matter how commercialized online fundraising might get, it would serve us well to remember that at the end of the day it is still a social enterprise. Impact Guru is one such crowdfunding platform for you. Despite being one of the largest crowdfunding platforms in India, they manage to pay close attention to all their campaigns, verifying them thoroughly and providing managers to their campaigners.
While you are fundraising for any cause irrespective of whether it is medical or NGO fundraising, it is good to have people who know what they are doing with you. The folks at Impact Guru have plenty of experience with harnessing the power of the crowd as they have raised Rs. 130 crore worth of money so far. If you are looking for a group of dedicated people who would take your campaign places, this is the site you should look at.
All said and done, crowdfunding is one of the finest ways to raise money. You do not have to wait in long queues, you can just do it from your home! You do not have to deal with any added debts. At the same time, it has no risks and does not involve any investment. If you have not engaged with online fundraising sites before, these are the people with whom you should start your first campaign.