KANNIYAKUMARI: Two youngsters from Kanniyakumari joined hands to make their community stronger. From helping government school students to local artisans, the future is bright when such enterprising twenty-something year olds are taking social responsibility.
AR Bavin Ram (25) from North Kundal in Kanniyakumari and AS Abish Spelman (24) from Sahaya Nagar in Valukkamparai attended SM Matriculation School in Mylaudy for their higher secondary education. Though they completed their mechanical engineering, they decided to opt out of placements because they had other plans in mind.
Bavin and Abish started the 'Flushtrash Planet Foundation' in collaboration with the state government scheme — Namma School Namma Oru Palli. They donated e-ink tablets to students and white boards to teachers at the South Thamari Kulam Government Primary school.
"No more chalk dust, allergies or sneezing. White boards enhances the learning experience and makes education interactive. E-ink tablets is like an unlimited notebook, where they can bring their imagination out by drawing and writing," the duo said.
The School Headmistress Y Stella Navis said that the youths provided a white board and e-ink tablets to 50 students of the school.
Another venture the youngsters started was setting-up a website for ease of doing business for artisans at North Kundal. Artisans have been making handicrafts using palm leaves and banana fiber for the past 30 years. They are experts at making eco-friendly boxes, dolls and hats among other things.
"We trained artisans to sell their crafts online in order to reach a wider range of people and sell directly to customers. This will help them showcase their skills to the world. A website named palmaze.com was created and this helped facilitate marketing of their crafts and be unique in the market.
Through their foundation, they provided gloves and face shields to sanitation workers in Karumpattoor panchayat. They also cleaned garbage on the roadside at South Karumpattoor and planted saplings with fencing to prevent people from littering there.
They have been using their own money and crowd funding their initiatives so far. "We plan to use CSR funds to provide more services in the future," the youths added.