One Million More Babies to Loving Homes
A personal vision for your life and work may not affect millions of people, but millions of like-minded visions can have a huge impact. You don’t need an epiphany to formulate a large or small vision; you can choose from an array of inspiring methods.
Visions such as Gandhi’s “Free India” have changed millions of lives. Can only “grand” visions be life-changing? Absolutely not. Is there a role for vision in our personal and everyday professional lives? Absolutely! While a personal vision may not affect millions of people, millions of like-minded visions, when considered collectively, can have a major impact. Let’s explore the power of one’s vision when it is strongly connected to what one cares about.
Vision Creates Reality
Sandhya Puchalapalli is an Indian woman who lives in Kadapa. Her city is part of the state of Andhra Pradesh in the southcentral part of India. It is a fascinating country on so many levels—historical, religious, ecological diversity, cuisine, etc., but it does have its downside. As of the end of 2022, India is the seventh largest by area, with the fifth largest economy ($3.1 trillion) and the largest population with 1.42 billion people (5 million more than China). Its economy is growing rapidly, but the Gross Domestic Product per capita is a low $2,690. It has the largest number of people living below the World Bank poverty level of $2.15 per day (24% of the world’s total population is below poverty level).
An estimated 6.8 million fewer female births will be recorded across India by 2030 because of the persistent use of selective abortions, researchers estimate.[i] Sandhya speaks of female infanticide in broad terms. She points out that like most male-dominated cultures, Indian families prefer male children. The dowry—a cultural practice outlawed in 1961 but still observed—exacerbates the preference. The dowry is paid by the girl’s parents to the groom to supposedly support their daughter as part of a new family. It is the equivalent of one year’s income for many poor families. The stark reality is that the daughter can become almost an unpaid slave to her mother-in-law in her new home. Her statements are born out in numerous articles, including one entitled “Girls Interrupted.”[ii]
With new technologies such as ultrasound, many baby girls are aborted, and others just left to die after birth. In some cases, it is not the dowry that is the root cause of these actions. As hard as it seems to believe, some Indian mothers just do not want their daughters to have the same wretched life that they have had. A 2018 article on the website Humanium.org states, “The United Nations recently declared India to be the world’s most dangerous place for girls: Until the age of five, according to a new UN study, their mortality rate is 75 percent higher than that of boys.”[iii]
About twenty years ago, Sandhya started taking in unwanted, abandoned children because they touched her heart. Her American nieces had raised $501 and sent it to her. From this inauspicious start, Aarti Home was born—named for her niece Aarti who died during the home’s first years. One thing Aarti Home taught Sandhya is that 90 percent of India’s abandoned children are girls.
With more than 1,000 children passing through its doors, Aarti Home has become a haven for those who have suffered abuse, trafficking, and abandonment. One of our friends who has visited there, Abha Singhvi, says it is one of the most “loving places on earth.”
In 2007, as president of the Vijay Foundation Trust (Aarti Home), Sandhya attended the Women Leaders for the World (WLW) program in the United States. She wanted to double the size of her orphanage. As she attended the classes and walked the beautiful trails of the California foothills, she connected more deeply with her passion. She saw new possibilities beyond her orphanage.
She fashioned a vision: to have 1 million more girls go home from the hospital to loving families.
With this vision in mind, she began taking new actions when she returned home. She broadened her work to address the underlying gender discrimination and violence affecting both women and girls. She enlisted gynecologists to not reveal the sex of babies shown in various tests. She counseled women to deliver their babies before deciding to give them up for adoption. Today, her work aims to help women achieve economic and emotional independence, gain confidence, and understand their personal rights.
What has her vision, coupled with her energy and compassion accomplished? More than 30,000 women have been trained in leadership, a vocation, or employable skills. Her three-month intensive vocational training programs have been attended by more than 20,000 formerly destitute women. The female: male ratio has even improved slightly in the last few years.[1]
Sandhya is not a lone example of the power of vision. Nor is she the only one for whom a retreat to nature provided the stimulus for the next chapter of life.
Guiding Lights to Create a Vision
You do not have to have an epiphany to formulate a vision, nor do you need advertising-worthy wording. Another way to create a vision is to craft a commitment and see where it leads you. Here are some common commitments that shape actions:
- I will believe in myself.
- I will seek guidance from God or a higher power.
- I will be adaptable and flexible.
- I will stay on my learning edge.
- I will help the children in my life build their visions.
- I will make every year the best one in my relationship with (insert name).
- I will support my community’s effort to (fill in the blank).
Some popular books can help you craft general commitments. One worth reading is Don Miguel Ruiz’s best-selling book The Four Agreements. Based on Toltec wisdom, it espouses commitments (agreements) that free adherents from their self-limiting beliefs. When voluntarily adopted as ways of living, they, too, can be guiding lights. The Four Agreements are:
- Be impeccable with your word.
- Do not take anything personally.
- Do not make assumptions.
- Always do your best.[iv]
Visons can arise from commitments like these—for example, perhaps your vision becomes that you want your organization to be known for its integrity. Those first three commitments are foundational agreements for making this happen, and the fourth ensures that you will make your best efforts. Or perhaps your vision is harmony at home. All Four Agreements could apply there as well.
Many charitable organizations paint a picture with their visions of the impact their organization is devoted to creating. Here are a few examples:
- African Library Project: “Placing books in the hands of the young—like dropping seeds onto good, watered soil.”[v]
- She-Can: “Educate a woman, change a nation.”[vi]
- We Care Solar: “We light every birth.”[vii]
The National Bonner Leaders Program at Virginia Wesleyan University has six commitments for its graduates that can translate into one’s personal vision or a collective vision:
- Civic Engagement: We participate intentionally as a citizen in the democratic process, actively engaging in public policy and direct services.
- Community Building: We establish and sustain a vibrant community of place, personal relationships, and common interests.
- Diversity: We respect and embrace the many dimensions of diversity in our private and public lives.
- International Perspective: We develop international understanding that enables us to participate successfully in a global society.
- Spiritual Exploration: We explore personal belief while respecting the spiritual practices of others.
- Social Justice: We advocate for fairness, impartiality, and equity while addressing systemic social and environmental issues.[viii]
Sometimes visions can be represented in beautiful pictures and songs. Barbra Streisand performed her vision for the world in 2016, which you can watch on YouTube by searching: “Barbra Streisand – Pure Imagination (Live 2016).” We’ve heard that Barbara Streisand was once asked, “Should I be an actor?” and she responded, “Only if you are passionate about acting.” Like Streisand’s passion for singing, acting, and directing, the best visions lead to devotion. They lead to something you cannot not do.
This article was adapted from the book, Shifting Context: Leadership Springs from Within, 2022
[1] https://www.thehansindia.com/andhra-pradesh/gender-ratio-declines-due-to-foeticides-in-kadapa-distrct-590833, accessed 11/10/2021
[i] Amrit Dhillon, “Selective Abortion in India Could Lead to 6.8m Fewer Girls Being Born by 2030,” The Guardian, August 21, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/aug/21/selective-abortion-in-india-could-lead-to-68m-fewer-girls-being-born-by-2030.
[ii] Ruhi Kandhari, “Girls Interrupted,” Down To Earth, April 25, 2011, https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/girls-interrupted-33385.
[iii] Olivier, “India’s Missing Daughters—Desire to Have a Male Child and Female Infanticide in India,” Humanium, March 15, 2018, https://www.humanium.org/en/indias-missing-daughters-desire-male-child-female-infanticide-india/.
[iv] Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, Amber-Allen Publishing, July 10, 2018.
[v] “About Us,” African Library Project, accessed September 10, 2021, www.AfricanLibraryProject.org/about-us/
[vi] “SHE-CAN,” SHE-CAN, accessed September 10, 2021, www.shecan.global/.
[vii] “We Care Solar,” WeCareSolar.org, accessed September 10, 2021, wecaresolar.org/.
[viii] “National Bonner Leaders Program,” Virginia Wesleyan University, accessed September 10, 2021. https://www.vwu.edu/campus-life/wesleyan-engaged/national-bonner-leaders.php/pdfs/2012-and-2016-NSLVE-Report-Virginia-Wesleyan-College.pdf.
Linda and Barbara are co-authors of Shifting Context: Leadership Springs from Within. Linda Alepin has had an illustrious career in the business and non-profit worlds and then pursued social justice globally through leadership education. Her vision is a world alive with love, peace, and justice. Barbara Key is a teacher, consultant and coach in Canada and the United States. She is passionate about facilitating leaders to achieve their vision for social change. Barbara wants to shine her light so that others experience and express their own freedom.
Leave a Comment