One person can make a difference

            Ms. Pratibha Pai was a full-time university professor in Mumbai when she attended a seminar and learned that 200 million people in rural India live without access to electricity. She was shocked at this major divide between rural and urban India, and wanted to help bridge this divide and simultaneously sensitize her students about this dichotomy. With some research she, along with her band of youth, identified a village that was living in the dark with a kerosene lantern being their only source of light, had been knocked over and burned down all of the huts. The huts had been rebuilt, but villagers were too scared to light lamps at night again. Her students came up with a novel funding idea and were able to raise 6,00,000 rupees to provide the village with solar-powered lanterns. Pratibha soon quit her job as a full-time professor and decided to dedicate her time to Project Chirag.

Project Chirag operates on a 5-point rural transformation model in order to combat many of the issues facing villages today. They work with local partners and vendors committed to the cause of rural development. Learning Space is one of their many partners, selected for its knowledge and understanding of the villages surrounding Ganeshpuri.

Together with Project Chirag, Learning Space was recently able to support a tribal school turn sustainable for its children through facilities of solar powered electricity, computers for e-Learning, clean water, a cheerful learning environment, and hygiene. Such a school can make a huge difference in the community, increase school attendance and enrolment, provide better opportunities to children, increase the chances that they continue their education, and help reduce the gap between urban and rural education.

Pratibha’s motivation for continuing Project Chirag is to show her students that “one person can make a difference”. Through her 11 years of experience with Project Chirag, she has discovered that volunteering not only improves the villagers’ quality of life, but also helps the volunteers feel more content as they find a sense of purpose. Volunteers often tell her they have found a deeper meaning to their life and are excited to continue to make a difference in the future.