Just Do It
Round Pizza in a Square Box
Excerpt from Chapter 6 – Just Do It:
I turned to my laptop where I had open a photo of Papai. He was just one child representing millions more in need. When we trialed the online education model, Papai was one of our first students. When I first met him, he was addicted to adhesives and covered in lice. He did not have a home or family, and least of all an education. His first day in class, he sat looking straight ahead with his eyes on the teacher, fully engaged in the lesson. He did not resist the volunteers who worked closely with him, and eagerly participated in the songs and art activities.
Photo courtesy of Morgana Wingard
As the weeks passed, Papai displayed amazing resilience. The volunteers spotted less signs of substance abuse, and noticed that Papai was steadily gaining weight. His engagement with the other students increased, while he took a great interest in reading and writing. “I want to be a teacher,” he told volunteers. The last I heard, Papai has moved up another grade level, and often stays after school to help younger children with their lessons.
Yet Papai’s life is just a drop in an ocean of need. An opportunity to learn lifted him from the dregs of poverty and gave him a real chance at hope and happiness. He is doing well to this day. Papai is why thousands of people worldwide work and give on behalf of the poor. It is not about the millions, but about each one in whose life differences can be made. The same can be said of Amar in the feeding line and the fifty children in the Kadamtolla school. In their lives, every single meal and each English lesson makes a difference.
In India, we are blessed with many children. Forty percent of India’s population is below the age of fifteen. That comes to four hundred million children.
But consider the plight of India’s children:
Nearly two hundred million children suffer from malnutrition.
One child dies every second of preventable causes.
One out of eleven children do not live to see his/her first birthday.
One out of ten children is disabled.
One out of four girls is sexually abused before the age of four.
One hundred and fifty million children have no access to education.
Fifteen million children work as bonded laborers.
It does not matter where you live, whether you are young or old, single or married. These are our children. I wish you could see them as they pick through garbage heaps and plow their family’s fields in bare and bleeding feet. They should not have to live like that. Children should not have to wonder where their next meal is coming from.
I know how hard it is to make a change amid such overwhelming statistics. I too have been overwhelmed with the need. I have felt inadequate in my abilities and hurt by criticisms. A couple of years ago, I had the task of raising twenty thousand dollars for a charitable project. Twenty thousand dollars was a lot of money. What if I could not raise the support?
My wife sensed my fear, and I will never forget what she said to me, “Well Amitabh, God never told us how big we need to do a project, just what we need to do. If you raise two hundred dollars for the project, great! You can execute the project at that level. If you raise twenty thousand dollars, wonderful! You can do it at that level.”
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