Helping Blind Students by LEADer Jyoti H

Some times blind students face problems in writing examinations because the examination board allows one person to attend the examination along with the blind candidate. But what happens if sometime the supporting member does not catch their sentences properly? It will effect their result.

LEADer Jyoti H from Jigular Women's College thought this to herself, and wanted to make a difference. She took permission from her hostel warden to teach economics (her degree) for the eight blind students who were studying the subject, to ensure they had the extra help and tutoring they needed.

Jyoti also realized that it was important to ensure the blind students had the right helper to transcribe their examination answers. Jyoti helped the students determine the good quality helpers, thus making the students feel more positive and interested to learn.

By assisting these students to do their best without treating them like they were less, Jyoti made a positive difference in the lives of her fellow students that had a visual impairment. 

Educational Trip for Poor Children by LEADer Saibindu and Shashidhar

Children getting off the bus in Hampi

Without any resources, destitute children lack to ability to explore and learn about the world around them. LEADers Saibindu and Shashidhar from Veerashaiva College wanted to give the opportunity to these children to do that which they would otherwise never get the chance.

Saibindu and Shashidhar took 42 children from the destitute children home in Bellari to the historical town and sites of Hampi. After getting permission from the home, teaching themselves all the key information about Hampi historical sites to teach to the students, they transported the students to Hampi in a bus they rented with funding from LEAD.

LEADers with some of the teachers
and children

This one-of-a-kind project made the children so happy and excited, all while learning about the different temples and ruins in Hampi and seeing the Hospet Dam. They were able to experience travelling to visit a very famous place, and the LEADers felt very proud that they were able to help the children forget about their poverty and sadness for even one day, and hopefully motivate them for future.

There were no doubt challenges, including receiving all the appropriate permissions as well as ensuring the safety of the children and getting tickets for the monuments for each one. However, the LEADers and children both thoroughly enjoyed the day and learned a lot.

Media coverage of the project

New Agricultural Techniques Awareness with LEADer Harish D

LEADer Harish D from Veershaiva College Bellary realized that there were many new agricultural machines, innovations, and subsidy programs, but without awareness, farmers were unable to take advantage of them. Harish took it upon himself to share this information with the farmers, and inspired his fellow leaders to join him in his awareness campaign.

Media coverage of the project

Harish conducting information
sessions for farmers

Harish and his team held information sessions in villages, 

spreading awareness to over 600 farmers in total. Not only did the team inform the farmers of the new techniques and programs, but encouraged and helped them to take advantage. With the help of Harish and his team, 7 farmers (with help from 45 others) received a commercial loan to purchase new innovative farming equipment, in which the farmers received a discount of 14 lacs on the equipment. In total, 50 farmers benefitted from this new equipment. Another farmer, with information from Harish, purchased 2 buffalo and one cow to improve his farming. 

One challenge for the group was to gather the farmers in one place to do the information session. They know it would take significant time to share the information door-to-door, so with the help of a few local people, the team went around to invite the farmers to a central location. Harish also found it challenging to convince the bank to offer low-interest loans to the farmers. Many of the farmers had limited history with banking, and therefore both the banks and farmers were hesitant.

Harish and team receiving award at
 Yuva Summit 2016

For this project, Harish won a Best Leader Award at Yuva Summit 2016, receiving it onstage in front of a crowd of over 4000 from Nobel Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus. John Deere Bellary also appreciated Harish for his work getting their innovative equipment to the farmers who need it most. 

My Story: Priyanka Dey

My Story: Priyanka Dey, BHU

I had always wanted to make a difference, but I just didn't know how to take the first steps. This is why, when I saw a LEAD Orientation at my college, I was so inspired to join. I saw the pictures of the LEADers having fun and making a difference, and I thought, if they can do it, why can't I? I also saw how many of the young students were meeting such inspirational and iconic role models, and I wanted that chance as well.

When I first joined LEAD, I knew I wanted to make a difference, but didn't know exactly what to do. So first, I realized I had to establish what the need was. I looked to other LEAD projects for inspiration, and thought about all the possible people in the world who could use help. 

Then, one day, I was crossing the street in Varanasi, and a feeling came over me that this area, one particular slum, was the area I wanted to contribute to. I saw the bad conditions of the children, siting around playing cards and chewing paan rather than in school, and saw how dire the living conditions were. But how could I help them?

I decided to conduct a survey of the area to figure out what their needs were. I made a team of friends and fellow LEADers, and went door-to-door in the slum area, gathering information about the people in the slum, including their professions, how many children there were and if they were in school, and what problems they faced in their lives. From this, I realized that many of the children were not regularly attending classes and did not have any interest, and the parents did not encourage them to learn. For this reason, I decided to create an education project for the approx. 80 children in the slum community. While many of the students agreed to attend the program, they did not seem enthusiastic, and this motivated me to help awaken their interest in education, which is where the name of my project came from, "Awakening Education". 

At first, I thought to hold my program in the park behind the slum. However, due to personal safety concerns, I realized this was not a good idea. After explaining the issue, one community member agreed to arrange a room for me and my team to teach in, but when he did not follow through, we were left again with no space. But then the family of several of the prospective students offered their roof as a teaching space. I took this as a good sign; someone so poor was being so generous as to let me, a stranger, use their home for my project. 

With some of the students of "Awakening Education"

My team and I started teaching each weekday evening from 4:30 to 6, plus we would do a fun activity with the children on Sundays, such as chowing a movie on our laptops, games, or a painting competition we once organized. But after a few months, we realized we needed a real formal space to teach in. Several of us went to speak to government schools, and while they all appreciated our work, the firts two schools refused. After much deliberation, the third school agreed to let us run their program in the school, giving us the keys to the government school. This was a huge moment of pride. 

After months of doing my "Awakening Education" project, I was accepted into LEAD Prayana and got the chance to travel around Karnataka with 130 other amazing LEADers. I met amazing role models like I had seen in the orientation, and it was even better than I imagined. A quote from organic farmer Narayan Reddy sir, "simple living, high thinking", was incredibly inspiring for me. IAS officer Mannivannan displayed such amazing speaking skills and showed me someone doing amazing work for his country, standing up to corruption, with little recognition. And Malathi Holla mam, the acclaimed para-athlete, was so motivational in sharing how passion and devotion can lead us to reaching all our dreams. 

Selfies with role model Anousheh Ansari at LEAD Prayana

At the end of Prayana was Yuva Summit, and it was at this award ceremony that I won a Best LEADer Award 2016. I was shocked. My name was the last of the seven winners to be called, and after hearing the caliber of the other projects, I never imagined I would win. When my name was called, the last LEAD award of the night, it was such a great moment and I became overwhelmed with emotion, accepting my award from such great dignitaries on stage. 

Accepting my Best LEADer Award 2016 from the legends at Yuva Summit

When I returned to Varanasi, I found myself surrounded by support. Not only were my parents and family so proud that I can been recognized so greatly at such an early age, but the principal of my college asked to speak to me. I had never met her before, and I felt very proud. My friends had not known I was on Prayana and thought I was at home, so when I came back and had met the role models and won an award, they were so surprised!

In March 2016, I got the chance to be a part of the "Recognizing the Unrecognized Women" on International Women's Day. I organized an event for the mothers of the students in my project, and appreciated all the work they do to support their children. I was so glad to be able to appreciate these women who had allowed their children to become educated. 

Recognizing an unrecognized mother on IWD

I am now motivated to share my story with others, and inspire others to join LEAD. LEAD has helped me to develop my personality, and I hope others take this opportunity as well. 

Don't Smoke! with LEADer Tara M

LEADer Tara M from ABR PG College (Anpara) understands the many negative effects of smoking, but was concerned that many members of her community did not. She felt compelled to educate them about the many reasons they should not smoke or use tobacco products, including raised blood pressure, increased chance of macular degeneration and stroke, and negative impacts on the lungs, heart, mouth, and throat.

Tara and her group visited the slum areas, where they though awareness about the dangers of smoking would be the lowest. Armed with signs and knowledge, they stopped people in the streets and visited homes to relay their message of health.

Out in the community, there was two highlights. One man, after the LEADers explained the dangers and pointed out the notice on his tobacco pack that "smoking is injurious to health, tore his packet of tobacco in half and said he would never touch tobacco again. Another women, after speaking with the LEADers, asked for forgiveness and promised to live free of tobacco and alcohol.

Tara considers this project only the first step in her motivations to "stop all the nonsense" and work together "towards a day when there is no alcohol, smoking, or tobacco factories".

Changing Children's Mindsets with LEADer Priyanka S

LEADer Priyanka S from Rajkiye Mahila Mahavidalaya College, Varanasi, always considered herself a simple girl, but through her projects in LEAD, is now proud to be a leader. This transformation started from her very first project in LEAD, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan.

Priyanka with some of the children at a session

Priyanka noticed that many of the children in her community lacked the basic knowledge, common sense, and morals that were expected of children when she grew up. Instead of sitting idley by, Priyanka took the LEAD slogan to heart: “Complaints start with they… solutions start with I”.

Priyanka contacted all the families in her community, and ended up gathering over 80 students for several educational sessions over the period of one month. At these sessions, Priyanka focused on teaching the basic knowledge and morality through games, and also incorporated her love and gift for dance, singing, and painting to the sessions. It was a rousing success, with the students truly enjoying their time and Priyanka noticing a changing mindset in the young children in her community after the sessions.

While it was a major challenge to convince the parents to bring their children to the sessions, Priyanka’s drive to change the local children helped her push through. In the end, her passion to change the children for the better is something she had in common with the parents, and this why she thinks she succeeded is getting so many children to be a part of her project.

Some of the children dancing

Education for Prisoner's Children with LEADer Anand K

Anand preparing to enter the prison
with school supplies for the children

LEADer Anand K from BHU has a project that is tackling an issue many of us do not think about: children living in prisons. Along with his brother, fellow LEAD student Shrikant, “Little Krishna” began in order to help these neglected children escape the cycle of poverty, illiteracy, and criminal behaviour. Anand was worried about how if children of the prisoners were not being educated, they would not help India move forward and would likely become criminals themselves.

The first major success of the project came when they were given permission to run their education program in one of the prisons near Varanasi. Prior to their project, no NGO or organizations had been given permission to work in the prison, so this was a huge accomplishment.

First, Anand and Shrikant identified the educated prisoners in the jail to find out who may be able to teach the children on a regular basis. After this, they led a session for the children, parents of children, and the educated prisoners, distributing school supplies and telling about the importance of these children being educated. So far, 3 sessions have been held in the jail, and 2 similar sessions elsewhere: 1 in the slum area, and 1 at the brick-making facility.

Session with slum children

Anand found that a serious challenge was that many parents did not want their children educated, because then they are unable to make money for their imprisoned parents. However, this project aims to appeal to their love for their children, encouraging them to understand that education will make a better life for their child later on.

During this project, Anand learned important skills such as how to speak to authority figures and how to motivate. Currently a BA student, Anand hopes to eventually get a job in social work, and believes this project has contributed to him finding this passion and building skills he will need in the future.

Awareness of Pollution by LEADer Rathnakar

LEADer Rathnakar from GSCET is a student who is passionate about saving our environment from pollution. It is for this reason that he used the LEAD platform to create his project, "Awareness of Pollution".

Rathnakar knew he wanted to create awareness within his community about pollution by showing people videos, images, and information about the state of our environment today because of pollution. After speaking with his uncle about his project, he suggested that he direct his message to the young people, as they will better be able to understand the message and are still young enough to change their ways and make a big difference over their lifetimes. 

Rathnakar took this as a challenge, and conducted his "Awareness of Pollution" project at Vasudha High School in Nizamabad. While this was a challenge, Rathnkar felt very proud to gain compliments and thanks from the teachers and students of the school after his project. 

During this project, Rathnakar learned to speak in front of strangers and has learned a to about communication skills all throughout his LEAD journey. He also notes that this project helped him improve his confidence when speaking to elders, such as the school principals and teachers. The motivation Rathnaker got from the LEAD is what he says encouraged him to do this project and ultimately gain these skills for the long term. 

Fundraising for Flood Victims by LEADer Gazala Muskan

When the Chennai flood disaster hit in November 2015, LEADer Gazala Muskan from Nishita Degree College felt compelled to help her fellow Indians who were facing extreme struggles. After discussing with her mother and father about this problem, she came up with the idea to ask the successful and people-in-charge in her community for donations to the victims Chennai Flood.

Gazala gathered a team and promoted her project in the media, and then by making personal visits, raised 10,000 Rs for disaster relief. While it was a challenge to get the people to trust they would be responsible with the money, the media coverage and support from the mayor helped to ease their minds that the project was legitimate.

However, after raising the funds, it was announced that the government would not be accepting donations to the disaster relief fund. Gazala and her team tried to find ways to circumvent these regulations to get the funds to a program that was supporting the victims, but had no luck. Eventually, they decided to put the funds to use in the immediate community instead, giving the 10,000 Rs to both education initiatives and to train a seamstress in teaching her skills to unemployed women who could then become seamstresses as well.

While conducting this project, Gazala both improved her communication skills and gained experience in talking to the people of power in her community and the media.

My Story: B. Anvesh Kumar

My Story: B. Anvesh Kumar, GS College of Engineering and Technology, Nizamabad

Growing up, I received many awards in my schooling, including a scholarship to and eventually “best student award” in my private college after attending a government school. However, my journey with LEAD did not start until my second year of my B.Tech at Gnyana Saraswathi College of Engineering And Technology, Nizamabad. Before I joined LEAD I was interested to do social service, but was I waiting for the opportunity to come to me. When I joined LEAD, I learned that opportunity won’t come to your door... you need to seek it out.   

After my completing some of my early initiatives, I got a chance of be a part of LLP (LEAD Leadership Program) in Hubballi. I learned lots of things like time management, leadership skills, and was lucky enough to visit Akshaya Patra, the world’s biggest kitchen. Soon after these 10 days spent with LEADers from areas outside my own, I saw that transformation inside me after meeting my fellows and college staff when I returned home.

Through my initiatives and active participation I was promoted to a Telangana LEAD Ambassador and also got the chance to work with LEAD as an Intern. I have also participated in LEAD Prayana 2015, attended the “Design Thinking” workshop in Hubballi with Mr. Adithya Pasupuleti, and feel lucky to have had the chance to co-organize and volunteer at many LEAD events.

Of my many projects, I feel the most proud of the Swatch Nizamabad and Safety First projects. However, I have faced resistance, including people suggesting I simply focus on my studies and if there is a problem in the community, leave it for the government to solve. However, I had to tell people, India is my home and therefore I feel compelled to solve the problem of my home. If government is not taking action, I can do my small part to improve my home. After me telling them this, they are much more supportive and appreciative of my work.

Safety First

Safety First: I feel that every kid is an upcoming leader, so I started guiding school students about the traffic rules. I have so far I reached 200+ students of my 2000 student goal.

Swatch Nizamabad

Swatch Nizamabad: Along with 25 of my co-LEADers, we cleaned from the railway station to the bus stand of Nizamabad, and within 3 hours we completed this project. While doing this project, people around us started supporting by joining their hands with us, and our project was telecasted in the local media for 45 minutes.

LEAD has showed me the importance of speaking to everyone, even the poor whom I was hesitant to interact with before. Now I speak to all the members of my society, and have gained the leadership skills to make my community better. I hope to eventually become an entrepreneur with my own software company, and to contribute to making India a cleaner and greener place, starting with my community and my city.

SAR Safety with LEADer Rahul S A

Rahul S A, a LEADer from DRM Science College, was concerned about the SAR value in mobile phones.

SAR, or specific absorption rate, is a value that measures the amount of radiation absorbed into the head while using a mobile phone.

Rahul has a lot of knowledge about this topic, and discovered a simple way to reduce SAR values in mobile phones during his research. However, he also knew that many people were oblivious to the health concerns, or didn't even know about SAR.

So, he shared his knowledge with others, teaching people about the issues surrounding SAR values, how to determine the SAR value of their phone, and how to lower the SAR value in old mobile phones by fixing small circuits in the back of their phones.

While Rahul found it difficult to approach and interact with strangers, he learned new skills and persevered through the challenges. In the end, over 1000 individuals were educated about SAR values by Rahul and his team.

Creating Scientific Curiousity with LEADer Prajwal M

"Science is all about understanding the workings of Mother Nature. Every second, nature has something new to show. We can learn many facts and figures about science from library or from google. But the real learning of science comes from by doing things practically. Practically means you don’t need a big laboratory! What you need is good observation skills and a curious mind. The rocket fuel of science is curiosity." - Prajwal M

This curiousity about science is the reason why LEADer Prajwal M's, from NIE First Grade College, Mysore, created his project Vigyan Santhe, a bi-lingual (Kannada/English) science website and app for school children. He wanted to show science in a new and fun way. "Vigyan" means science and "Santhe" is the Kannada word for the weekly fair, and Prajwal wanted the same excitement and curiousity about science as there is about the santhe. 

Vigyan Santhe website

The website is "by the students, for the students, to the students", and also includes a "Student Santhe" section where students can submit their own content. This encourages participation and is an exciting moment for any student to be featured online.

For Prajwal, it wasn't just important for the Vigyan Santhe to teach science. The website also helps to teach computer and internet skills to children, as they learn to navigate and use the website and app. The website is also used as an English teaching tool, whereby students are involved in translating content between Kannada and English. In fact, Hebbal Government School students are actively and regularly involved in translating the English website pages into their native Kannada.

Vigyan Santhe app

So far, the Vigyan Santhe website has over 30,000 visitors and averages 150 visits a day. Three workshops reaching over 200 students in the Mysore region have been conducted to introduce the students to Vigyan Santhe and encourage students and teachers to continue using the website and app.

For Prajwal, his Vigyan Santhe project has helped him both learn HTML coding and improve his English writing skills. He has also realized that simple science can often impact students easier than big and complicated science.

In the future, Prajwal hopes to makes Vigyan Santhe accessible to students with different needs, including the differently-abled, and create an audio library of their articles so that students who struggle to read or are blind can listen to the articles. He also plans to create a mobile library of science-related books as well as science toy printables which students can download on the website, print, and then build like origami.

Teaching Digital Skills to Housewives with LEADer Sweta Khinnavar

Sweta Khinnavar, a LEADer from Maratha Mandal Engineering College in Belgaum, noticed that many women were eager to learn more computer skills, but often lacked the opportunities to gain these skills unless they worked in an office job or were taught by family. 

Sweta began teaching some of the housewives in her community basic computer skills for her project IT NAARI, such as creating files and folders, watching movies, playing songs, transferring files, and turning the laptop on and off. However, Sweta learned that many of the women did not have computers of their own, so oftentimes she would teach the women using her own computer. 

After several sessions, more women began coming to the workshops and she found out that the women were calling their friends to tell them about how great the project was. Not only this, the women were then interested in Sweta's other LEAD projects. 

Sweta found that in teaching the women, she was in fact teaching the whole family because the women were sharing their learning, impacting even more lives that just participants of her project. She hopes to expand the workshops to include internet skills including email, Youtube, Google, and more. 

Library for a Village by LEADer Praveen Kumar

LEADer Praveen Kumar from SHEPA College has taken initiative to form a library in a village in Mehgaon, Rajatalab, Varanasi, where students can come to study. He has noticed for a long time that there are no libraries available in villages that students can afford and study. He was faced this same problem when he was studying in a village. Instead of having access to books in a library, they have to go the market to purchase new books. 

He came up with solution to start library, but faced challenges of where he will get the place to set up the library. He approached Gram Panchayat and requested that they provide a place for a new library, and at first, nobody listened him. But he did not give up. He continuously approached them and finally got the permission and room to start up the library. 

Without a large amount of funding to buy new books, he had to find another way. He made a team and convinced each member to collect used books in Varanasi. So far he has collected more than 300 books from different areas of Varanasi; not only study-related books but also religious books.

He gathered more than 70 students in the inauguration of library. This library was inaugurated by Mr. Naveen Jha, CEO of Deshpande Foundation, with whom Praveen shared his experiences & learning. Everyone at the inauguration appreciated his work and the initiative to help students learn. Praveen said, "I am educated but want to do something for students that they also can get better facility for study. All have same rights of education."

“A library is the delivery room for the birth of ideas, a place where history comes to life.”

Norman Cousins

“The library is the temple of learning, and learning has liberated more people than all the wars in history.”

Carl T. Rowan 

Library in the Slum by LEADer Abhishek HJ

After noticing that his family and many of the people in his residential area had books they did not use, Abhishek H J from Bapuji Institute of Engineering and Technology in Davangere came up with an idea to share the knowledge that was sitting idle.

Abhishek visited kirani shops to collect donations of paper boxes, and then him and his LEAD team went to residential areas to collect books that people had already read or did not have time to read or use any longer. The team brought the donated books to the slums in SJM Nagar in order to help educate those living in the area. These books included children’s books as well as education books that would help individuals study for exams to get out of unemployment.

 Abhishek and his LEAD team have now raised over 350 books and have been given permission to store the books in a small room which now acts as a free library in SJM Nagar. With only 50 rs of funding from LEAD, this project has helped over 1000 people gain access to free knowledge in the slum.

While Abhishek notes that it has been a challenge to convince people to both donate books and access the free library, the struggles were worth it for the success and he plans to continue with this project in his free time in order to expand the library.

Support Girls’ Education "Save a Girl"!

It is a common belief in villages that girls don’t need an education. However, this belief is destructive and misleading not only for the community, but also for the society on the whole. Yuvaraj D Patil from VSM Institute of Technology decided to solve this problem and support gender equality in the community of his village of Nitawade by giving awareness about girls’ education. Yuvaraj admits that in his village people don’t pay enough attention to education for girls, so the LEader decided to address this issue to the residents of his village. For this project Yuvaraj met the principal of the school and with the help of the students organized a protest called “Save Girl”. This protest addressed common problems faced by girls in small villages, including equal educational opportunities. By addressing the issue, Yuvaraj expressed his worries and concern about human rights. Yuvaraj is sure that now people should understand the importance of education for both girls and boys.

LEader Datta Hule forms a library of 100+ books for underpriviledged students

“This Library transformed the whole scenario” says enthusiastic LEADer Datta Hule. He also added, “Being an social entrepreneur and LEAD student, the level of confidence has reached beyond the sky. It is turning my ideas into action”

LEader Datta Hule (Vidya Pratishthan, Indapur) decided to form a library for the underprivileged students who come from an agricultural, village backgrounds. He formed a team and asked them to contribute books as well as a book stand for this initiate. The team then reached out to their friends, and even a local politician, to collect a great assortment of books. The team then asked the members of the community if they could use a common room in one of the local temples as a site for the library, which was approved. The project execution was a success, and there are currently 100+ books available, on various topics such as Agriculture, Educational, Health, Environment, Awareness, Culture, and Technology. Additionally, there are two well respected newspapers, Sakal and Parshwabhumi,that are available on a daily basis. His team is currently working on enhancing the library even more by starting night study sessions for hostel students.