“I don’t know what my Leadership Curriculum goal is. I want to do something for my village, Bhaiya.” These words anxiously escaped Anushka’s mouth, when I asked her what she intended to achieve through the Leadership Curriculum (LC) organised by eVidyaloka. This was after a couple of weeks’ worth of brainstorming.
I said, “Fair enough. Try walking around your village and identifying any 10 problems, big or small, that it suffers from”. Early next morning, as my brain was gathering speed in Germany, Anushka’s excited voice caught my attention and that of her classmates in India. “Can I please go first?”, she asked. Powering on, she said, “Bhaiya!! I want to preserve water and prevent Malaria and Dengue in my village!” Her smile was contagious. She was elated at the prospect of solving a problem.
Living away from our native place, my mother ensured that both her children grew up on inspiring stories of their grandparents. I loved learning about the family history and what went into the making of our lives. While each story was different, most of them had an underlying theme: empowering others. Hence in 2019, although I was volunteering at Berlin’s largest food bank and had worked with the homeless, I had the urge to work in the education sector.
After scouring the internet for volunteer work in the education sector, I came across eVidyaloka, an Indian NPO that connects Indians from around the world with students in rural Indian government schools via Skype. Apart from teaching students in remote locations, eVidyaloka also provides the volunteer teachers with the opportunity to mentor 3-5 students over a period of 3 months through the Leadership Curriculum. As I reflect on my relationship with eVidyaloka – from a Volunteer Teacher to a Volunteer Programs Manager – I realize that even though the journey has just begun, I am now closer to my family’s legacy.
When asked about what the next steps were, Anushka said “I am not sure yet. I will begin with a detailed survey of the village and get back to you with the details!”. An important trait of a changemaker is being comfortable with the ambiguous and the unknown – and Anushka had it!
She set herself the bold goal of constructing 17 water management pits in her village.
Wastewater seeps out of houses and flows out on the streets, creating various problems:
- The accumulated water provides a breeding ground for mosquitoes, who in turn spread diseases. India is designated as a high burden to high impact country by the WHO. (https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/world-malaria-report-2019) While the situation is improving, there is much work to be done!
- The wastewater damages the streets over time and makes it difficult for people to commute.
- The accumulated water is extremely unhygienic and emanates a bad smell.
As a mentor, it is important to guide the mentee in the right direction, but to not give out right solutions. The process of problem solving helps build critical skills, equipping the mentee with hard and soft skills for the future. It was my duty to ensure that Anushka not only gets a seat at the table, but also heads the discussions.
A meeting was set up with eVidyaloka’s local partner, senior program manager and field coordinator. Anushka led the meeting, introducing her goal, discussing the approximate budget and requesting help with vendors. Her zeal and hard work impressed everyone and they promised to help her along the way!
Anushka had already surveyed her village, conversed with the sarpanch (village head) and won his support, and recorded videos in English for fundraisers on the GoFundMe and Ketto platforms. Furthermore, Anushka convinced the village populace to help dig the pits. Apart from reducing the project’s budget, this gave the benefactors a sense of ownership.
Donors from 4 different continents and 7 different countries came together to help Anushka. Anushka is connected to online classes and the LC program through Upgraded Middle School Koymara in Jharkhand, which is powered by L&T Technology Services (LTTS). The project is now almost complete, thanks to Anushka’s conviction that engaged all donors, including LTTS. Which led to her being able to expand the scope of her work and construct 20 water management pits instead of 17! To follow Anushka’s project, click here. (https://www.gofundme.com/f/water-management-pits)
During a candid conversation Anushka asked me “Bhaiya, will the classes come to an end now?”. Assuming that she was not tired of conversing with me, this statement was the perfect culmination of the Leadership Curriculum 2021.
Thanks to these children, my communication and time management skills have improved! Collaborating with such wonderful young minds continues to be an extremely humbling experience. Kudos to the eVidyaloka team for making it possible for Indians around the world to contribute towards India’s growth and future!
This article was written by Sanchit Gupta, who is an architect, skydiver & teacher at eVidyaloka. Sanchit resides in Germany.