HYDERABAD: Sreekar Kuchibhatla is an average 12th grader, who goes to FIT-JEE and hopes to become an engineer someday. However, there is one thing that sets him apart from others of his age. He is the founder of Quid Faciam, a skill-based voluntary organisation that brings together talented individuals onto one platform to make a difference to the society.
“The idea behind the organisation is to inspire youngsters to become change leaders who can bring about sustainable change by giving back to the society and empowering the helpless through innovative community outreach initiatives,” says Sreekar, adding, “I was studying in Chinmaya Vidyalaya which has Hari Seva in which I was involved in. Later on, I moved to Oakridge International school where they had a community service but that was a formality. So I was always involved in such kind of programmes.”
But the idea for Quid Faciam came while Sreekar was doing online tutorials for a website. “I realised not just me but many talented people who if grouped together, with each one of them extending a little of bit of their talent can make a huge difference to the society,” shares Sreekar. Quid Faciam comes from a latin word which means “what can I do as an individual” to contribute to the society.
Though the idea and concept was in place, the hitch in the otherwise smooth process was Sreekar’s age. “I formalised it at the end of 10th grade in 2012 when I started the organisation. After consulting my parents and principal, I realised that since I was 15-years-old I couldn’t be an office bearer. So I reached out to eight different people from eight fields to be on the board. The board members consist of architects, bio-technologist, electrical engineers from IIT Delhi, corporate managers, entrepreneurs, professors and doctors.”
Once Sreekar had the office bearers in place, the rest became easy. It was only a matter of time before his organisation had a reach of 6000 plus children. Quid Faciam has five programmes which deal with various areas – Putting Back Smiles, Beyond the Bells, Career Compass, Greenovation and Young Leaders.
Putting back smiles targets homeless and orphaned kids where the volunteers conduct music programmes, activities, campaigns and recreation programmes. This particular programme sees artistes like Sharik Hassan, Pawan Benjamin taking part in the initiative.
Beyond the bells is a comprehensive personality development programme for under-privileged students which looks to improve communication, problem solving and critical thinking skills.
“We get professionals in the field who share their experience and guide the students on the right way of going about their area of interest. Our Greenovation programme deals with environmental awareness. We conduct awareness rallies in schools by directly getting in touch with the students. One such awareness programme we did was on a new type of plastic developed by University of Rochester which dissolves into carbon dioxide and water,” explains Sreekar who coordinates with senior corporate professionals and trainers in his Young Leaders programme. The programme is designed to help college and career bound students. At present, the organisation is present in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Vishakapatnam and Nagpur.
The organisation boasts of international volunteers also from countries like USA, Scotland, Spain, France and Switzerland.
“These volunteers get in touch with us via our Facebook page. We usually have people already residing in India helping us out with the cultural activities,” elaborates Sreekar who has managed to impress Nobel Laureate Rajesh pachauri, British High Commisioner David McAllister with his great work.