I grew up in a household that proved nurture would always trump nature time and time again so the decision to join a social enterprise, Global 360 Degrees, that was founded on humanitarian values seemed an obvious choice for me.
Growing up, I never struggled to find a good role model and that’s because I was raised by one. My mother of five ran a single-income household all on her own, and did it with resilience and grace, she was as strong as she was kind. She raised us to become decent human beings if I can say so myself.
My mother, however, had ample more love to give so she refocused all her compassionate energy to foster care even if it meant providing a home for these children for 10 days or 3 years at a time. Coming from a traditional ethnic group, many others didn’t understand her motivation for this. Sometimes people would criticize my mother, saying her big heart was a weakness – especially as she inevitably became attached to the children and before having to let them go.
It surprised me that people viewed it that way. Her overflowing need to love and care for others despite getting attached and falling in love with each child that entered her path was seen as a sign of absolute strength to me. With each passing year watching my first role model in action, the more determined my resolution to give back to those who need it the most became.
The act of giving back was embedded in my DNA and it was something that I could not shake off even if I wanted to. Meeting with other like-minded individuals that share the same moral code and the desire to act on it like Madhu and Guru further fuelled my mission to help others even more.
When conceptualizing the idea of Global 360 Degrees, we understood the struggle we might face when explaining our idea to others. Due to society’s social conditioning, it was easy to acknowledge that people could only give back once their own financial needs were met. In no way is it selfish to want to live and provide a comfortable life for those we love dearly but once our monetary pursuits are taken care of, it’s our social responsibility to help individuals that lack that accessibility that we do.
The organisation is set up in such a way that provides people that have the desire to give back the tools and expertise to generate their own wealth so that once they are able to provide for others, they’ll become a part of our team and join Global 360 Degrees’ mission to create a better and safer world.
The revenue that is generated from our other branches such as Finance 360 Degrees, Health 360 Degrees, and Projects 360 Degrees will all be used for our championing causes in Humanity 360. While there are an array of causes to fight for, the company’s current focus is on providing accessible education to all, fighting for women and children’s rights, and women empowerment.
Although we are in the early stages of our Humanity 360 branch, our baby steps have proven to be great strides. In our fight in providing proper schooling for all, we’ve partnered up with
Youth For Seva, a project that offers educational opportunities and mentorships to graduates wanting to further their studies at a tertiary level. To kickstart our initiative, we are currently sponsoring 10 students that want to give back to their community when they are able through the project.
In support of our solidarity for women empowerment, we are partnering up with Dress For Success, an Australian company run by women made for women. The organisation aims to help women from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and unfortunate circumstances such as incarceration or abusive households to become financially independent by providing them with employment opportunities and the tools to have a successful job interview.
And in a nod to my own background, we’re currently working on partnering up with Barnardos, an agency close to my heart, as it’s the fostering agency my family works closely with. It’s unfortunate that there is a lack of carers in Australia so our plan, for now, is to increase awareness on this cause and work from there.
While it is just the beginning of Global 360 Degrees’ humanitarian efforts, we’re just getting started in our mission to ignite a flame in our community that’ll motivate every single person that we encounter to spread some love and give back to the planet.