My Story: Yuvaraj Patil

My Story: Yuvaraj Patil, VSMIT Nipani

There was one day which turned my life towards achievement. Our sir at college came and informed us to join one programme. We all went it to the presentation... it was the LEAD program. I got impressed by listening about LEAD and by watching the project videos. I saw the LEAD slogan: "complaints start with they... solutions starts with I". This slogan pushed me to achieve something. It is made me to look for problem around me that I could solve. 

By keeping the slogan in mind I went home and started thinking over it. Since my home is in rural area, I found lots of problems. In my home itself there was smoke problem from the traditional chula. I wanted to reduce my mother's effort by solving this problems. I start to think over it and I got a solution that is I made a smokeless chula .

Yuvaraj with his smokeless chula installed in a home

Traditional chula produces more smoke and that has an effect on the health of the chef and also on the food. I found a solution to reduce the smoke, in and developed one smokeless chula which works on traditional fuel only but produces less smoke. I have fitted one small part which blows oxygen to fuel and causes complete combustion of the fuel therefore smoke gets reduces. The blower works on a mobile charger and battery so it is economic for rural people.

By seeing this project my mother was so much happy that she showed this project to all her group of women friends. Since the cost of this project is low and it is very effective, they have demanded for this project as well.

On 1st January 2015 was very lucky and very important for me. I received a call from LEAD Deshpande Foundation, they wanted to see my project. I went and I showed my project and came back to home. The next morning only I saw my news in various news papers as a “FIGHT AGAINST THE POLLUTION”. I felt very much happy and my parents were also proud of me.

I was selected for LEAD Prayana 2015 and my project was selected for showcasing in Yuva Summit 2015. I enjoyed and also I learn lot in Prayana and at Yuva Summit. I exhibited my project in front of the role models, and in award ceremony I sat on a chair in crowd. There was one announcement from Ajay sir, functional head of LEAD, that was "the Best LEADer award goes to Yuvaraj Patil". I was surprised because I could not have thought that I will get this award. I accepted my Best LEADer award on stage from Nobel Prize Winner Kailash Satyarthi-ji .

Accepting the Best LEADer award at Yuva Summit 2016

I went back to my village but I did not stop my work. I started thinking over more problems, because I found lot of problems around me. And I started to solve the problems through LEAD projects. I completed more than 20 projects.

Conducting one of many projects: reducing daytime home electricity usage with waste bottles

While doing these projects the villagers were observing me. They thought that I would be a good leader... they changed their perspective about me since I was always very quiet. One day the ex-Panchayat member came to my home and he suggested to me to stand for election. I was shocked for a few seconds, but I thought that this is a very good chance to do something for my village and so I said yes.

Yuvaraj after his Gram Panchayat ceremony

Because of all my work in my LEAD projects the people elected me as a Gram Panchayat Vice-Chairman without any opposite competitor. If LEAD is not with me then I could not be a leader as a Gram Panchayat Chairman. 

At last I want to tell you all my friends that LEAD is a bridge from normal student to successful leader. One of the most important things I learned from LEAD is that converting an idea into reality with great effort is the moment of success. No matter if the idea is small or bigger, converting it into reality is the main thing I learned in LEAD.

Yuvaraj sharing his My Story on stage at Yuva Summit 2016

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

Village in the Digital Age by LEADer Dharmendra K

LEADer Dharmendra Kumar Patel from BHU wanted to help his village gain their basic needs in the modern age. With new requirements from the government but barriers to the villagers obtaining these requirements, Dharmendra realized that many of the villagers would be unable to receive subsidy or rations.

Dharmendra took on three projects in his village: bank account set-ups, AADHAAR identity card sign-up, and ration card sign-up. Together, he felt these basic needs would help the people in his village have their presence recognized in the modern age. These projects also helped build basic modern skills in the village, including ATM use, making signatures,awareness of financial saving, and interacting with large modern establishments such as banks.

At first, only a few villagers were willing to take part in the process and many were hesitant for change. However, now those initial participants have told their neighbours and people are regularly approaching Dharmendra to take part and get a card and bank account. Women are coming out of their homes to sign up and join the modern age.

While Dharmendra has three specific projects, overall he is aiming to increase the wellbeing in his village. A good example of this is his motivation of a disabled woman. She had lost a leg in an accident, and was simply sitting around all day, although he had 3 children to feed. Dharmendra motivated her to learn the basic skill of sleeving to create an income, and after she had a small amount of earnings, got her to take part in his projects. Today, she has 4,500 Rs. in the bank account he helped her create, and she owns her own sleeving machine.

Understanding Beggars with LEADer Piyush K

Living in Varanasi, LEADer Piyush from Banaras Hindu University noticed many beggars, both old and young, on the streets, especially in the area of Assi Ghat that he regularly visited. He wondered why it was that these people were begging on the streets… did they have no choice? Why were there people who seems capable of working still begging? What is the future of these beggar children?

For these reasons, Piyush decided to conduct a survey of the beggars to better understand their circumstances so that the problem could be addressed properly in the future. Along with one teammate, he visited six areas where beggars were common and spent time speaking the beggars of all ages. He asked them questions about their family history, how much they make begging, how they feel about being a beggar, what caused them to become a beggar, and whether they had any mental or physical barriers (versus societal barriers) to employment.

It comes as no surprise that this project faced many challenges. Piyush often found it difficult to interact with the beggars; either it was difficult to gain their trust or else they expected something in return for their time answering questions. Several beggars were not just challenging, but rude and abusive. However, Piyush hopes to one day enter into the IS and work in policy, so he knew how important it was to learn to interact with this marginalized group and knew his research would be beneficial.

Piyush found that there were two primary types of beggars: those begging out of necessity, and professional beggars. Those begging out of necessity were generally individuals who had been forced to leave their native villages and small towns because of industrialization, and when they arrived in Varanasi, were unable to find daily wage employment. Piyush realized that many of the beggar children were in fact the children of these migrant families, as the parents no longer had an income after arriving in the city. On the other hand, some of the elderly beggars were professional beggars, whose families had always begged and therefore they begged as an income source, not because they were unable to work in another industry. Piyush found that some of these elderly beggars in certain spots could beg approximately 400-500 rupees per day, and therefore had no interest in other employment.

Because of his research, Piyush has realized how important it is to address the issues of village people being forced to leave their homes to find work in the cities. If they are unable to find work, they have to resort to begging, which makes them extremely vulnerable to human trafficking because they are visible vulnerable, sitting in the streets, but also do not have many contacts in the city who could help them or know if they were safe. He hopes to apply this understanding when he eventually works in policy making for the IS.

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.

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.

Improving Bus Stops with LEADer Shweta Khinnavar

Before

The four main bus stops in Dharamveer Shambhaji Circle in Belgaum were in bad condition. They looked bad, were dirty, and did not provide any information for bus travellers as to what buses would arrive or where they would take them.

LEADer Shweta K and her 40+ person team from Maratha Mandal Engineering College took it upon themselves to help these bus travellers. With a small amount of funding from LEAD as well as money they fundraised themselves, Shweta and her team cleaned the bus stops, made small repairs, and re-painted them. They also wrote on the bus stands the destinations and bus numbers that visited the stop.

After! 

However, they learned it is hard to please everyone. Some people complained that the bus information was not written in their regionally language, or demanded different spelling or different destinations be written according to their own needs and desires, rather than the official information in the official languages.          

Despite these challenges from passersby, the team persevered and felt successful because they now see more people sitting in the stop (whereas before, people would stand outside) and being more assured in their bus transportation routes.

This project also received media and community attention including praise from the NWKRTC. They hope to expand by making more community improvements within the Swatchcha Bharat Abhiyan movement.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Water for Stray Animals with LEADer Bhavana V

A true animal lover, LEADer Bhavana Vyas from Nishitha Degree College and her team installed cement drinking pots for the many animals she sees hanging around the weekly bazaar.

The cement pots are located both close to where the animals arrive but also close to water taps, and Nishitha has forged agreements with nearby vegetable sellers for them to regularly fill the pots for the animals.

"Animals don't speak like us, and I wanted to help them in living a long life by providing water", says Bhavana. The cement pots were bought at a low-cost, but providing these animals with fresh drinking water will help to keep them healthy.

Since installing the pots, Bhavana regularly checks the area and has been very happy to see that they are regularly being filled by both shop owners and regular shoppers at the bazaar.

Bhavana credits this project and the LEAD program for teaching her coordination and delegation skills, but also how to interact with the public and convince them to help with the cause in any way they can. 

Recycled Study Lamps with LEADer Shankar

LEADer Shankar from S B Science College, Kalburgi noticed that many poor people in Kalburgi City were facing power cuts or were unable to afford much electricity, so at night, were without light or relying on fire sources.

Addressing two problems at once, Shankar designed a low-cost lamp made of waste materials in order to also re-use products that would otherwise be put in landfill or burned.

With only waste materials and 1500 Rs of funding from LEAD, Shankar has produced over 400 study lamps to distribute both to poor students, so they can study and work on school at night, but also in slum areas to use while cooking and spending time in the home.

Shankar's biggest challenges was to get his lamps to the people who needed it most, because he wanted to maximize his impact. He also struggled to find the proper waste materials, but as an important element of his project, he didn't give up and searched for these products to make hundreds of lamps.

Through this project he has realized just how important having light can be in improving the quality of life for a home.

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.