Greetings

My name is Sonam Jha. I am 14 years old and a 10th grader at Lancers International school in Gurgaon. In my spare time, I write poetry and play with my golden retriever Neo.

On February 4th 2023, we celebrated my birthday along with my grandfather’s who coincidentally has the same birth date as me. Since little my grandfather always narrated stories to me about his village in Bihar, called Tamuria. On this birthday where I turned 14 and he turned 83, he told me how in his last visit to the village, he had constructed a temple, a landscaped cremation ground and had also donated some land for a possible college to be constructed in the future. I felt so proud as I had visited this village with him a few times. I asked him what made him do all this and he told me that the village was lacking a few of these essentials and now with this donation, it is complete and self sustaining. He said always remember that no one has gotten poor by giving to others and you yourself gain immense happiness and sense of purpose to life.

The next day I told my grandfather that we should set up an award for the best scoring girl student in the government high school of Tamuria. With a twinkle in his eyes, my grandfather proposed we name the prize after my grandmother who we had recently lost.

Later that month, I accompanied my mom to a neighboring village in Haryana as she wanted to make a trip to see her carpenter. There was a very nice government school next to the carpenter’s workshop. I was bored and so I walked into the school. The school was neat and clean and beautifully decorated with potted plants but I could see the old fashioned drinking water station a bit unkempt, a long line in front of it and many children just walking around, some girls were skipping. I asked if it was recess time, and a kid told me that there was no electricity so everyone was out in the shades as it was too hot in the classrooms. I went back home but could not take that image out of my head. The very next day, with the help of my parents, we contacted the school’s principal and made an appointment to visit the school. On March 1st, I visited the school and it was that day that my small mission started…

My Mission….

I have adopted a school - Shahid Raisingh Senior Secondary School, Changroad – a village in Charkhi Dadri district of Haryana. I visited the school on March 1st, 2023 and I spent the whole day meeting the students, staff and the principal. We had an open discussion on the basic needs of the school. I made notes based on the student’s and staff suggestions so that they can be provided with the amenities which any child going to school should have. Here is a summary of my notes:

Children's Day November 14

It was a glorious Children's Day on November 14. As the chilly winter is fast approaching, the school kids need sweaters. Thanks to generous contributions of many, we were able to provide 100 sweaters to the kids.

The next target is getting Solar panels installed of 5KW, so donate generously. Thank You Target Achieved...

I have the Power!

It was an incredible day at Shahid Raisingh Senior Secondary School, Changroad (on February 22, 2024) a village in Charkhi Dadri district of Haryana. The solar panels got installed and are fully functional. The intermittant electricity caused major problems in the school teachings and functions. Clean water was not available whenever the power went during the day. Neither were the smart boards installed by the government functional during that time. The summer months were particularly ardous.

It was a beautiful inauguration ceremony!

Attened by the District Education Officer (Mr Naveen Nara), Solar Energy Project Officer (Dr Manoj Jain), Block chairwoman (Miss Nitu Yadav) and the Village Sarpanch (Mr Sarjeet/Suman), School Principal ( Mr Satish Dala) and staff, ofcourse the students of the school and me.
Onwards and Upwards!