A late mid-life crisis?
I drifted into the Charitable -Voluntary- NGO sector more than 30 years ago when I started working in a rural clinic in India as a young doctor. At that time it wasn't a 'sector' and many friends and associates would fail to understand what I was doing and it was difficult to explain what I did other than attending patients . The new way of working in rural communities, which I learnt initially more by hit and miss rather than design was exhilarating. It allowed me to arrange for providing essential health care services in a way people found more acceptable. I learnt of and met others who were similarly engaged and also learnt from them. It became apparent that this new frame of working , which was becoming known as the NGO, was an appropriate vehicle for serving my own aspirations to both understand and serve. There were several agencies that provided financial support if they felt that the work we did was useful. Over the years the NGO sector became more formalised an