HYDERABAD: For Praveen, giving back to society is something he learnt from his father, his first superhero. After his dad’s demise, the 34-year-old started a foundation to help children from marginalised backgrounds
Never in their wildest dreams had Neisha and Thaniya, whose fathers worked as autorickshaw and tractor drivers, respectively, thought they would get to play tennis, which is generally considered to be a sport for the rich. However, they have been sweating it out in swanky courts across the country and recently participated in an international tennis tournament held in New Delhi. These two children, much like many others, owe their success and achievements to 34-year-old Praveen Kumar Tangella.
Hailing from a lower-middle-class family, Praveen has seen it all. Money problems and the issues that come with them are no strangers to him. However, the struggles didn’t stop him from idolising his father, Satyanarayana Tangella, who was known for his giving nature. A BSNL employee for the majority of his life, Satyanarayana never shied away from helping others. He held drives to arrange resources for the Kargil War, extended help to people hit by floods and other natural calamities and helped unprivileged children receive an education.
For the Vikarabad-born and Hyderabad-raised Praveen, his father was the superhero who helped everyone. This is why after Satyanarayana passed away in 2018, Praveen started Ahamprana (meaning I am life) Foundation on June 28, 2018, his father’s first birth anniversary after his death.“I remember that while growing up, my father would drop me to school on his moped. We used to have a lot of problems and they never really went away. However, my father’s morals to give back to society was something that became imbibed in me. Thus, I started the Ahamprana Foundation on his birthday with the savings I had,” Praveen, who works as the associate director of Alliant Cybersecurity, a US-based firm, and secretary at Information Systems Audit and Control Association, an international association for IT governance, tells Express.
He wanted to provide learning opportunities to children from low-income and marginalised families. Starting with paying the yearly school fees, study material and other miscellaneous items for nine children, he quickly grew to support 25 kids from in and around Hyderabad, tribal thandas in Adilabad and Srikakulam. He hopes to be able to support 100 underprivileged children, he adds.“There are still children out there who use plastic covers from malls and high-end shops, discarded by the consumers, as a bag to carry their books. Giving them new school bags and other such accessories inspires them greatly,” says Praveen.
He is of the opinion that orphanages and government schools in the city are getting funds to improve facilities and carry out daily operations, but the ones in the suburbs fail to get any funds from rich philanthropists. For this reason, he distributed around 2 lakh notebooks to children studying in the suburban areas, arranged five blood donation camps for more than 200 people and provided food for police personnel, frontline warriors and Covid-affected persons during the pandemic. Happy with what he has and is spending for the foundation, he says that Sumathi B, DIG, Women Safety Wing, recently launched their campaign ‘Education for All’, which, he believes, will help rural residents.