Meet Anu Priya Komeswaran, the sixteen-year-old who found a different way of investing free time than others her age — teaching children of the fishing communities on subjects they cannot think of learning in school.
The twelfth grader was one of the qualifiers to the South Asia levels in Horlicks WizKids. “The South Asian level required a social project to be done. I could have gone for something simple like teaching kids for a day, but I wanted to start a community of my own,” says Anu, who established Illuminate — a social initiative to improve the lives of the children from the fishermen community. Reaching out to kids in the Palavakkam area, she imparted training in spoken English, basic Math, Science, dance and drama.
It was during a regular conversation with one of the girls, who revealed her dream of becoming an IAS officer, that she saw the problems faced by these children. “While we were complaining about our moms not letting us watch movies, these children were a part of families worrying about their next meal,” she says.
Spoken English was one of the first mandatory subjects she introduced. With the kids of the fishing community only speaking Tamil, the need for another language to simply widen their scope and opportunities to travel was an elementary step. Also, the countless stories of children rendered helpless outside the state simply because they didn’t know the language impacted her. Along with English, Illuminate also taught children accounting. “We found fourth-grade kids who didn’t know simple subtraction,” says Anu, who used novel teaching methods like using marbles to make basic math entertaining.
Funds were difficult to gather, the troop learned quickly as they marched from door to door in their school uniforms, to convince companies of the need to support Illuminate. “I think the problem was that the organisations couldn’t show it under any legitimate tax purpose since we weren’t a registered charity,” says Anu. Illuminate quickly gained recognition from the government as a charitable trust.
Equipped with presentations showcasing videos and photos as proof of their activities, Anu, and her friends were back in the lobbies of corporate companies, ready to prove to them that every single rupee was fueling a kid’s future.
Despite several organisations shooing them away, Fruit Shop on Greams Road slapped the first positive note into Illuminate’s treasury. This was the first ray of hope Illuminate had seen since its birth and triggered a chain of optimistic responses, according to Anu. “I’m very proud to say that from zero money, we raised `1.5 lakhs in a matter of 6 months,” she says, hoping to expand the impact to children of sex workers in the future.
But hopping over the financial hurdles seemed almost easy when compared to the brick wall that was the parents of all her volunteers. With parents investing more time and energy into the board exams than their own children, the twelfth grader had to talk to them about the cause, “There were many instances where I thought this wouldn’t work out anymore and I should just give up. But my friends and especially my sisters made sure I wouldn’t back out,” says the girl who has been actively involved in the initiative for over three years.
Her determination to expand the initiative from textbooks to etiquette only strengthened, as she recalled spending three hours just teaching the children how to stand in line without pushing.
Anu had to tempt them to attend classes every day through field trips to parks and then convince them out of playing cricket inside the classroom. The issues were plenty and comical, at times. But Anu, who now studies in NIT, Trichy finds being wished on Teacher’s Day much more inexplicable than she would have ever imagined.
Reach Out: www.facebook.com/IlluminateAllTheWay/