Earlier this week, we met with Shri Kailash Satyarthi, Nobel Peace Prize winner-2014 in New York.
Kailash-ji was delightful, charming and humility personified. At the age of 26, he dedicated himself to serve children by starting Bachpan Bachao Andolan in 1980. The rest is history. His work is being followed and practiced in 130 countries. He is hopeful of the new government in India, with its sharper focus on the underserved sections of Indian society, helping the cause of children he has espoused. His vision is a world where all children are free to study, learn, pursue their dreams and progress. He underscored the importance of education and the urgency of freeing children from labor/ bondage. He has faced various instances of threats and physical violence which has left him with broken bones and scars- but his soul and spirit have never been broken or weakened. His thoughts and philosophies are deeply rooted in spirituality and wisdom gained by reading ancient scriptures. On a lighter vein, we asked him about his interest in cooking – he loves to make ‘Indian style’ pizzas!
We updated Kailashji about our work in LAMP which has cumulatively touched the lives of 350,000 children, and currently operational in 1183 villages. He is deeply appreciative of our work and congratulated all of us (each one of you reading this email who have supported AIF for so long in so many wonderful ways). We will have further conversations with him soon and explore partnership opportunities. I will meet him with Nishant and Arjun when I visit New Delhi in the next few months and keep you updated.
M. A. Ravi Kumar
