Education is beautiful. Hope is beautiful. Strong is beautiful.
By: Meera Dahiya and Saira Rathod
Saira Rathod and Meera Dahiya at Sahasra Deepika Foundation for Education PHOTO CREDIT: Aanya Rathod
On Friday, March 13th, COVID-19 caused state-wide school closures in Maryland. At first, we expected a two week break to relax and spend time with friends. We never thought it would be something that would stick with us for the rest of our lives. We thought that we would go back to school and have the senior year we hoped for. But as the situation worsened, we started to realize that the year was over. We would not walk into our high school as students again. We began to understand how much we miss school and that it’s such a large part of our lives. We have always found education to be important, but we now see the full extent of its impact and how it affects every aspect of our lives.
Unfortunately, not everyone has the same access to education that we do. In fact, in India, the literacy rate of women is only 66%, according to the World Bank. However, educating girls allows developing countries to uncover untapped potential. We always say, when you educate a girl, you educate an entire community. Educating girls in developing countries is both vital to individuals and to the countries as a whole. On an individual level, education paves the path for new opportunities — including the chance to become financially independent and to help others. On a community level, an educated girl can help financially uplift her community. And on a national level, a more educated nation creates a stronger workforce; economically a country benefits from both male and female potential. We firmly believe that education should be a right not a privilege.
Meera and Saira at Sahasra Deepika in Bangalore, India
PHOTO CREDIT: Aanya Rathod
Three years ago, we first started fundraising for girls’ education with a foundation called Girl Rising, a large organization that works to improve access to education for girls in developing countries. But after organizing our first fundraiser, we realized we wanted to have a more personal connection and to contribute to a smaller organization where we could see a visible impact. A family friend then introduced us to the Sahasra Deepika Foundation for Education (SD), a school for impoverished girls in Bangalore, India. We have been working with SD ever since then.
Our first step was seeing how we could contribute to Sahasra Deepika. After a conversation with the president of the school, we learned that the girls enjoyed playing sports but didn’t have an adequate space to do so on campus. We came up with the idea of building a sports court at the school. We love to play sports, and it is a big part of our lives. Everyday we play sports whether it be on the school soccer, basketball or track/cross-country team or playing basketball with our neighbors outside. The lessons we have learned through playing sports have been invaluable. We have tried to impart these same lessons to the girls at SD and make them believe, as we do, that strong is beautiful.
Sports teach discipline, leadership, and sportsmanship. The sportsmanship aspect has been proven greatly important when it comes to the workplace for girls. In 1972, the US passed Title IX, an act that requires colleges to fund women and men’s sports equally. The act led to more American women participating in sports and learning to adapt to competitive environments. This allowed them to become better acclimated to the competitive workplace atmosphere.
Meera and Saira at the annual Holi event
PHOTO CREDIT: Ayesha Khwaja
To emphasize the values that we have learned and create opportunities for the girls at SD, we fundraised through cultural events, dance camps, and jewelry events. We created a fundraiser around Holi, an Indian holiday commonly referred to as the “festival of colors.” The Holi event brought our Indian community together and connected them to Sahasra Deepika. At the event, we had colored powder, a DJ, raffle prizes, and food trucks. This has not only helped SD but it has helped us create stronger bonds within our community. To have a community of people who truly care come together and look forward to our annual events was something we never expected. It has become an event that we hope to continue when we go to college. At the jewelry events, international jewelers and other local jewelers donated 20% of their proceeds toward the sports court. During the summer, we planned a Bollywood dance camp to connect young girls in Maryland to the girls at Sahasra Deepika. At the dance camp, the girls attended a one week camp focused on teaching Bollywood dance and raising money for Sahasra Deepika.
Saira and Meera in front of the sports court sign.
PHOTO CREDIT: Aanya Rathod
It wasn’t always easy to put all of this together. Our biggest challenge was advertising and getting people to come to our events. But having each other and sticking to our ambitions made raising the money achievable. Our confidence allowed us to push through those challenges and moments of doubt. Through these annual events we are excited to have raised a total of $18,000 for the sports court.
We traveled to Sahasra Deepika in the summer of 2019 for the inauguration of the sports court. The school had planned a ribbon cutting ceremony to open the court. As we arrived at the school for the ceremony, the school band performed for our arrival and there was so much excitement in the air. It felt like we were getting married. We were then welcomed by the principal of the school, the founders Mr. and Mrs. Ramakrishna, and the president of the school. We walked up to the podium and gave a speech about how much this whole experience meant to us. The ribbon cutting ceremony to open the sports court, named the “Saira-Meera Sports Court,” was truly an incredible experience, as we saw the accumulation of three year’s work come together. The moment when one of the girls came up to us, told us how much she loved playing basketball, and thanked us for building the sports court was when we saw the visible impact.
Meera and Saira at the ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the “Saira-Meera Sports Court” at Sahasra Deepika, July 2019 PHOTO CREDIT: Aanya Rathod
Although we are now going to college, we are planning to continue our journey with Sahasra Deepika. We are currently working to create a micro-lending program that connects the girls with businesses. The girls make beautiful handmade cards, and it is our hope that we can create a way to connect them to business and ultimately teach them the value of financial independence. Sahasra Deepika is now an important part of our lives and an organization that we plan to stay involved with.
The girls at SD are some of the most incredible people we know. Their resilience and courage is inspiring. Through connecting with the girls and their journey through life we have learned that strong is beautiful. And through building the sports court we hope to share the same message: strong is beautiful.