The Goodwill Tribe: Paving the kindness trail through their Letter Earthlings project

Imagine if you will, a bunch of people across the world, receiving handwritten letters of encouragement, appreciation, and motivation from strangers — out of sheer goodwill. Through Letter Earthlings, the second event of its kind in Mumbai (the first, a test run, took place in January 2017), The Goodwill Tribe does their bit to spread love, kindness, and happiness via handwritten letters; something the world needs today.

Chandni Sawlani and Sonia Parekh, both college friends, wanted to make kindness their cause, when they started the initiative in September 2013. The human disconnection this Dubai-based duo felt (something most people living in big cities can identify with) led them to conduct an experiment; at a stall in a flea market, Sawlani and Parekh took little things they owned that were in good condition, tied each object with a ribbon, added a note, and then handed them out as gifts to strangers at the flea market. "Peoples' reactions were amazing and we decided to do this every month in new ways," says 24-year-old Sawlani.

Two years ago, their friends in Bengaluru followed their lead, and before long The Goodwill Tribe spread to Chennai, Sydney, Pune, London, Kuwait, Mumbai, Kochi, and Trivandrum. "The intention is to inspire kindness and foster human connection. People are free to be creative as long as the intent remains the same. Chapter heads do not need our permission, but they always have our support," she adds.

In fact, Letter Earthlings was started by Nivendra Uduman (Sawlani and Parekh's friend from Sri Lanka), and soon caught on in other cities, Mumbai being the latest to join the merry gang. With 50 letters written by 25 participants, Grafleen D'Souza and Shreya Shah, chapter heads for Mumbai hope to have at least one Letter Earthlings event every month, apart from other events. "Letter Earthlings appealed to both of us as soon as we heard about it," says Shah. "With our busy lives, we felt the need for something like this in Mumbai. Letter writing is dying and we believe it's so much more personal than an SMS," adds D'Souza.

It's quite simple; you know someone who is going through a tough phase in life — a friend has lost his job, an aunt's been unwell, your little sister could do with a bit of motivation, or you simply want your parents to know you appreciate all that they do for you. Send in your request through The Goodwill Tribe's online form and on the day of the event, when everyone meets, someone in the group will write a letter to that person. At the end, writers sign it with their name (if they want to) and #thegoodwilltribe #letterearthlings.The beautifully wrapped letters are then ready to be posted by the Goodwill Tribe chapter heads. It's as simple as that! And while people can bring in their own stationery, there's plenty of writing paper, colour pens, stickers, post-its and more available.

While spreading love and kindness was what attracted most people to the event, the passion for letter writing cannot go unnoticed. "I know the joy one feels when receiving a letter. The idea of surprising a stranger excites me," says 22-year-old Harsh Shah, who has been writing letters to his friends and family back home in Bengaluru for the past four years.

"I strongly believe in Wayne Dyer's quote, 'whatever the question, love is the answer,' and when I read that the idea behind the event was to spread love, I had to come," says 26-year-old Ravi Kumar, who works at Teach for India and generously brought around 30 stamped envelopes to help cover postage costs.

It seems kindness is contagious; it has certainly become the foundation on which The Goodwill Tribe has sustained itself for the past three and half years. "There are so many forms of wealth that we're not aware of; wealth in community, time, technology, and ideas," says Sawlani.

Other Goodwill Tribe Projects

Kindness Confetti is a 'random acts of kindness' mission, where participants, once divided into groups, are given a scavenger list of 10 'kind' things they have to do in an hour, and a bag with tools. Things on the list could include giving smile pins to strangers, hi-fiving strangers, paying for someone's coffee, or being the doorman at a café for a short period.

One Kind is a circle of sharing, where strangers come together and share their opinions and experiences based on themes, for example gratitude.

Gratitude Table was an event conducted in Sydney, where people could pick up thank you cards to give to someone. It is a space to pause and reflect, have conversations on gratitude with the volunteers, or fill out answers to questions based on the theme and stick them on a board.