[size=150]If you give alms openly, it is well; but if you do it secretly and give to the poor, that is better. [/size]
Qur-an 2:271a
As we can in general agree, that where there are social services, they are utterly corrupt; tools of the state, we must take it on ourselves to provide a good hearted social service that is independent of the state. We can not count on state welfare agencies to really help the downtrodden; our tax dollars are misused, the helpless are harmed.
Islam asks us to give (roughly) one-twentieth of our incomes to the needy. Christians ask for alms, Buddhists; anyone with a heart understands charity, even atheists. Giving a dollar to every beggar in Kolkata would be useless.
But what can be done, really to help the needy. I’ll assume that you have an income of several tens of thousands of dollars annually, twenty, thirty, fifty, something like this. If we are to give just 1/20 of our net income, this amounts to say one or two thousand dollars. Not a lot, but not a little either. Have you given one-thousand dollars directly into the hands of the needy this year?
I suggest we need to find a target: one single needy person only. This person should be old enough, and young enough, that we can communicate with them to understand their problems and needs. This one person should speak English, or some language we are familiar with so that we can communicate with them about their needs and the success and failure of our attempts to help. This one needy person should be accessible for follow up; there is no point paying for the accomodation or schooling of a child in Nigeria if we will only be making a one time visit to Nigeria. We need to understand the community this person lives in; if we choose to help a child, can we meet his or her mother, his or her school teacher, his or her employer?
We need to identify the best way that we can help this person. Should we persuade this person to leave the welfare system? Is it little more than education that would benefit this person? Then we need to organize their education. Is it medical treatment? Then we need to contact a hospital and doctors, we need to arrange pay for the medical treatment and we need to follow up. Do we need to arrange for an apartment for this person? Legal defence? Or what?
I take the title of this thread from the expression “barefoot social work,” which comes from the turn of the century period before major social services existed at all in the developed world. We find ourselves back at square one, if you agree that contemporary social services is corrupt to the point of being harmful. I would be interested to hear your views on this subject. What sort of guerilla social work have you performed. We need not limit ourselves to giving only money, but money is a start, and the hardest to part with, (giving money frees the soul), we may also have some expert service we can provide, (extra-governmental) legal aid, teaching, an extra room in our home.
Please advise.