I instantly chose The Akshaya Patra Foundation when given an option to choose the NGO I wanted to intern with.
Akshaya Patra foundation has taken up a noble cause of feeding the underprivileged children across the country. Millions of these tender ones are forced to toil in order to feed their tiny tummies, and end up staying out of school. Akshaya Patra bridges this gap by providing them free food at school every day.
What else but education can contribute to the growth of one of the most populous countries like India?
We (Anvitha, my classmate) began our internship with the happiness that we too will contribute to this noble cause in our own little way being a part of Akshaya Patra Foundation for four weeks.
Listening to the radio recordings, I learnt more, the story and all their other programmes and initiatives to feed the hungry.
When I proof read their annual report, my journalism class on proof reading was refreshed. I got to know a lot more about the people involved in building this organisation.
In our first week itself, we got an opportunity to visit the Vasanthapura kitchen when a high profile delegation from Singapore came down to see how a programme like this is possible and how does a private and government partnership programme function? We were at the kitchen early morning and were awestruck seeing how an industry functions to serve hot food to the little ones, the kind of efforts that go into making it happen. After going through the presentation made to these delegates, I learnt some more things about this organisation.
The second week went into one of the most memorable part of our internship, “Theatre for a Cause” workshop. We worked with 20 children from different government schools. Our week went into picking them up, dropping them back, taking care of the children and knowing each of these children. They opened my eyes to some bare realities of life. I got to see the ultimate impact Akshaya Patra was having on these children. It was a marvelous experience to see their happiness and excitement about the food they were getting to eat and the difference it made to them. I must admit, I still miss the mischievous brood.
Assigned the task of coming up with a concept for the conference room, there was more I learnt about this amazing organisation, its achievements and milestones. It was a thrilling assignment.
We had fun translating the IVRS flowchart to Kannada, I learnt about the dedication they have to serve better and work more efficiently.
I must mention the fantastic and committed people at Akshaya Patra. They made us feel at home and helped us learn and understand everything we wanted to know. Everyone from the CEO to the office help is extremely supportive, adaptive and humble.
The four weeks had come to an end even before I realized. On our last day, we were privileged to have been treated for lunch, another humble gesture I will remember forever.
We captured some of the precious and happy moments we spent at this brilliant place with even more amazing people.
It felt like I was one in the family of Akshaya Patra. Now, I know this place better than I thought I ever would and feel a sense of belonging. I have learnt something each day in everything I have done, a few lessons to last a life time. There is a satisfaction of contributing my little bit to an organisation like this. What more could I ask from an internship of one month?
It was an experience to be cherished for a life time!
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