Did you know that across India, approximately 72 million people migrate from their villages in remote rural areas every year in search of labor, uprooting entire families for up to eight months at a time in hazardous work sites like salt pans, brick kilns, and sugar plantations? All too often, children are forced to migrate with their parents, leaving behind their schools, friends, and communities. 

Being a high school junior, at the Advanced Math and Science Academy Charter School in Marlborough, I have come to appreciate the effort that my parents take to send me to school, the work that my teachers do to help me learn, and my good fortune to be able to attend such a well-known school. So, when I came to know about the fundraising challenge to help these kids through American India Foundation’s, Learning And Migration Program (LAMP), which educates and nurtures children in areas of high seasonal migration, I couldn’t help but get involved and do my part.

AIF was a familiar name in my household for the past 7 years, as my parents had been volunteering for this organization. However, my first contribution was during my Bharathanatyam Arangetram in 2012, when I took the opportunity to donate all the cash gifts I received for my performance, to AIF. From then on, I became more aware of what AIF did and how I could make a difference. 

I decided to do the New England challenge, because it sounded like a fun fundraiser that I could do at the convenience of my home, computer, and phone. Through the money raised, I could make a difference in some kids’ lives by helping them get good education. I became motivated as I read more about the LAMP program and learned that 100% of the funds would go towards their education. My initial goal was the default $300, but as we approached more and more people, more donations kept flooding in. In the end, I raised $3,081 in 21 days with the help of friends and family in my network. A key factor in helping me raise funds was the simplicity and user-friendliness of the platform that AIF provided to collect donations. 

What I enjoyed most about the campaign was the fact that I was able to tell so many people about a cause that I was proud to represent and support. It was heart-warming to see the immense amount of support I received from everyone, whether it be from our close friends or people whom we hadn’t been in touch with, for a while. The good-natured competition between all the fundraisers kept everyone engaged and active throughout the duration of the campaign and this spurred us to try our best to get as many people to donate as we could. Being part of such a successful campaign for such an important cause gave everyone much satisfaction and inspired me to be actively involved in the Light a LAMP global campaign too. 

In addition, I learned many valuable skills that I can use every day, whether it be in school, in my community, or even when applying to college. By writing emails to ask people for donations, I learned how to convince people that my cause was worth giving their time and money for. Persuasion is a tricky art to master and this challenge helped me improve my writing skills. I also noticed that personalized requests and thank you notes made a big difference in the way people responded.

LAMP is important to me because as a high school student, I am very immersed in academics and am grateful for the education that I am receiving. Getting good education is an extremely vital part of today’s society and paves the way to success. Many children of migrating families in India never enter school and for those who do, migration often results in dropping out and forcing them to work in areas that lack basic services like education and healthcare. Every child should have the opportunity to learn, and I am happy that I can help them open more doors to achieve better lives. Kids should participate in this fundraiser because it is a chance to help children like themselves attain access to continuous, quality and age-appropriate education, resources to attend local schools, stable environments, as well as safe and structured care in seasonal residential hostels during migration season. 

I wholeheartedly support ‘AIF Light a LAMP Campaign’ and encourage youth to participate in this fundraiser, which runs from October 15th to December 3rd, by creating your own page at My.AIF.org/LightaLamp. I request that parents motivate their children to start their own pages, because they have a chance to make a real difference in the children of migrants. It is a great experience to be involved in a cause as big as this one and to come together with so many types of people across the world. For more information, please visit http://aif.org/investment-area/education/