G Kiran Kumar, a final-year MBA student of Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR), Chennai, whose life has been a challenge since his father’s death when he was two years old, made it a point to serve underprivileged children who struggle their way through hardships. He got an opportunity to engage in service as NSS secretary of his school, where he got to interact with children from poor families and learn about their difficult lives. Subsequently, he was part of Project Outreach at Cognizant (where he worked prior to joining IFMR), Samarthan in IFMR and an NGO called Payanam which he started with his friends from Cognizant.
He plans and organises events, raises funds, communicates with the public, and the management and students of IFMR and networks and partners with other NGOs like Goonj, Bhumi, Sevalaya and New Life Charitable Trust, under Samarthan, which provides an interface between the students, professionals and voluntary organisations in the development sector, to harness their collective strength towards building a strong society.
The events he organises for children are fun-filled learning sessions like games, workshops and dance. “As an individual, I have been able to spread smiles on the faces of the kids that I have seen and interacted with and my greatest success lies in their victories,” he signs off.
— malavikkasridharan@gmail.com