By Chris Marino
As a busy GSE intern, I did not think that I would have much time to read and write stories, but, indeed, that is what I spend most of my time doing. I found myself captured by stories from my internship experience with Dream A Dream, an enlightening evening with Dr. Sampath, and listening to Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael on audio.
On Monday evening, the GSE group was invited to a fantastic dinner in the home of Dr. Sampath, an Ashoka fellow dedicated to the development of human values. He shared something that struck me. He created a learning tool called Discovery. The tool uses parables and stories to stimulate players’ minds, and make players more conscious of their own values and how their values influence their behavior. It is through the stories contained in Discovery that the player reflects on their values and translates them into behavior.
Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael had new significance to me while I listened to it later that night. In it, the character, Ishmael, states, “Given a story to enact that puts them in accord with the world, they will live in accord with the world. But given a story to enact that puts them at odds with the world, as yours does, they will live at odds with the world.” Every person is given a socially defined story. Our notions of natural order and possibilities hinge on it.
For instance, a child given a story that tells them that their aspirations will not be fulfilled will not strive towards those aspirations. But a child given a story that tells them that their aspirations can be fulfilled just may strive towards those aspirations.
This is a reality that Dream A Dream, a Bangalore charitable trust dedicated to the empowerment of children, is well aware of. I have come to look at Dream A Dream as something more than a socially conscious organization. I look at Dream A Dream as a storyteller. Its story is that, with proper capacity-building, life skills, and a sensitized-community; children can reach their aspirations—their dreams. Dream A Dream understands that vulnerable youth in Bangalore need stories of hope and capability for empowerment. Dream A Dream does not write its narratives in books, but writes narratives everyday through its sports, art, education, and mentoring programs.
Dream A Dream is now using a new market tool called Stories of Change. The purpose of this tool is to document stories about children who have demonstrated stronger abilities to tackle difficult situations while enrolled in Dream A Dream programs. With Stories of Change, each child empowered through Dream A Dream’s programs adds a new chapter into the story.
Dream A Dream is not just content in spreading the story to Bangalore youth. The organization wants the whole world to hear. They spread it through advertisements, articles, partners, and fundraisers (Vishal Talreja, the director of Dream A Dream, will be running in a 10k run in London July 1). Professor Moledina received word of it half-way across the world.
Dream A Dream is not the only social enterprise spreading its story. Each social enterprise that the GSE group has come in contact with (e.g.: EnAble India, Naz India, Score Foundation) has a story to share and each story shares one thing in common: that ordinary people can make a difference. All of these social enterprises were born from people with visions—stories just waiting to be told—and supported by staff and volunteers who attempt to transform those visions into reality. Indeed, these social enterprises and consequently their stories are agents of change.
In the past, the seafaring pioneers’ discovery of the spherical shape of the earth revamped the world’s notions of the cosmos and in fact reality as we know it. Instead of pioneers of the frontiers and oceans, it can be said that social entrepreneurs are pioneers of the social sector. They push the limits and challenge the status quo. As I heard one social entrepreneur say, “Social entrepreneurs are change-makers.” As I have seen it, Dream A Dream changes children’s lives with the stories written from its visionary actions.
