Mishra: Making a difference for students in India
In the developed urban world, we take going to school for granted. Going to school is a critical part of a child’s mental and physical development. It is just a part of our lives. However, nearly half the world’s schools lack clean drinking water, toilets and handwashing facilities, putting millions of children at risk of missing out or, worse, catching diseases.
In India, many households don’t have proper toilet facilities. Girls routinely drop out of school upon puberty due to lack of sanitation facilities in their schools. In India every year, diarrhea and other waterborne diseases kill over 770,000 kids due to unhygienic sanitary conditions.
This problem became evident to me upon my trip to India earlier in 2022.
As my mother is a volunteer with Sewa International USA, we ended up visiting a village called Jharsa in Haryana state, in the northern part of India.
We visited some government girls schools during that time. I was surprised to see the Jharsa middle school for girls, did not have a functioning toilet for the 500 students. The existing toilet was locked and only to be used by school staff.
It never occurred to me that there would be schools somewhere on Earth that would not have such basic services. While my mom was having conversations with the schoolkids, I overheard some girls say they are missing out on school because of this issue.
It was quite a scene to watch how there were so many girls who wanted to attend school and learn and grow. But due to lack of facilities and functioning toilets, they were forced to drop out of coming to school. The visual sights made me realize how privileged we are here in America.
Upon my return, I did some research online and found that about 30 million schoolchildren across India do not have access to sanitation facilities in schools. This was a real issue and something needed to be done here. It impacted me to the point that I told my parents that I would like to do something about it. If I was able to do something to raise awareness about building toilets in rural India, I would not just be helping thousands of kids going to these schools, I would also be helping raise awareness in my generation to do something more about this cause. I set a goal for myself by pledging to build six toilets by raising awareness through a Facebook campaign.
I shared it out with various people in my community, school, friends and family members all over. I started talking about the topic with friends in social gatherings and after school as well. I printed QR codes on banners and posted it out in locations like school notice boards, grocery schools and the Hindu temple.
At first, it was a lot of hard work and I found people were empathetic to the cause but didn’t do much beyond a little bit. So, the collections on the Facebook fundraiser were low. I had to do something else. I decided to create a presentation and reached out to some of my mom’s friends. To my amazement, I had a few different opportunities to present to different companies like Slalom Consulting, Acronis and Hitachi, and the donations started coming in.
I was able to raise $2,200 over 60 days. I donated all this money to Sewa International’s Sanitation, Hygiene and Empowerment of the girl child (SHE) program that helped me in reaching my goal of building toilets and ultimately helping girls continue with their education.
I wanted to do something for the state of Uttar Pradesh in India, which is where my dad is from. The Sewa team members in India told me about an opportunity in a rural area around Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh, where they had recently gotten approvals to build the toilets. We were able to complete the construction of six toilets in Government Primary School, Bhagaonpur, with the help of Sewa International’s team. They even sent me a few pictures of beaming kids with smiling faces that would benefit from this little project of mine.
India is a massive country and there is so much that we can do to build toilets across the country. Instead of being stuck by the enormity of the problem, I decided to do something to solve the problem. I was able to hit my goal of making a difference in the lives of all the kids going to school for years to come. This was in part possible because of the various donors who came forward to help me and Sewa International for providing me with an opportunity and a platform to make a difference. More importantly, I also wanted to set an example for other kids of my age on how they can make a difference in the society we all live in and share. It’s all a matter of focus and determination.
Ayan Mishra, 11, is a student at St. John's High School in Shrewsbury.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Ayan Mishra of St. John's High School in Shrewsbury editorial on India
