Disha's Direction

I was born in Greenville, North Carolina to Indian parents. Being "brown" as I liked to call it wasn’t a part of who I was, it defined me. My parents made sure I was always brought up with a very strong link to my Indian heritage. And with that, came a firm commitment to practice Mahatma Gandhi’s dedication to service. I started going with my parents at a very young age to help feed people affected by hurricanes and I always helped my mom with her Relay for Life team. I remember my parents would tell my siblings and me to ring the Salvation Army bells on Christmas Eve because we were Hindu and didn’t celebrate Christmas, and that way others could be with their families on such an important day. I started raising money for my temple, and my parents saw that I had a very strong ability to fundraise. I started using my "talent" as they called it, to throw charity dances and buy books and toys for migrant families. I got donations so I could make care packages for veterans in nursing homes. I became a volunteer Special Olympics coach when I turned 16. I also worked hard to get my Girl Scout Gold Award. I studied hard and got good grades, but I truly felt alive when I was doing service. Nothing else seemed to make me as happy. By the time I graduated from high school I was named Citizen of the Year and I had raised over $200,000 for different causes. Still, I wanted to do more.

I went to UNC Chapel Hill for college. There I continued my dedication to service. Raising money for good causes felt great, but I knew that doing things hands on was the fun part. College was a time where I didn’t have to separate my Indian and American side, and I was able to fuse the two together. Gandhi said, "Be the change you wish to see in the world", and that is exactly what I did for those four years. I went to elementary schools and taught them about Indian culture and dance so they could learn more about diversity. I painted and cleaned the Ronald McDonald house, cooked food in soup kitchens, picked up trash on highways, and participated in dances for benefit shows. In the spring of my junior year I was awarded the Mahatma Gandhi Fellowship, a scholarship that gave me $3,000 to do a self constructed service project anywhere in South Asia. I chose to work in Goa, India, my parents’ home state. I wanted to experience life as more than a vacation in a country that gave me so much of my culture and identity. I worked as a teacher in a school for the handicapped. The school was named "Disha", meaning guiding light or direction. I rarely got to speak English with most of my students and had to utilize my language skills in Konkani, Hindi, and Marathi. For three months I worked with these 60 students, aged 5 to 35. Suddenly, my life’s worries seemed so futile. I was teaching kids how to be independent, showing them how to wash their hands on their own, and reminding them to bite the food that was in their mouths. Many of them lived in one room huts that did not have toilets, running water, or electricity, let alone the technological innovations of America. It was the best three months of my life.
I came back for my last year of college invigorated. My senior year of college I was named one of the fundraising chairs of the Senior Class Marshals, and as a committee we decided to build a Habitat for Humanity home, which required $30,000. We also were given the task to raise 25% participation for the senior class gift. Our gift wasn’t a plaque, or a bench, we were raising money for the Carolina Covenant, a scholarship that allows low income families to send their kids to college debt free. I knew the undertaking would be quite daunting considering my academic load and extracurricular activities. We slowly but surely reached and surpassed the $30,000 goal, built the house on the weekends, and then moved on to the class gift which received a UNC record breaking 31% participation. My classes did not suffer, and I realized why: Gandhi said it right once again! He said, "The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others." I concluded, when you are doing something good for others, everything falls together.

After graduation I was planning on going straight to law school, but I decided to shelve that plan for a year and instead, I moved to India. I joined Disha once again, this time as a full fledged teacher, not just a volunteer. I take them to the market so they can learn to pay for things on their own. I help teach them crafts so they might have a career in something vocational one day. And my favorite activity- I get to teach them how to dance which serves as a form of physical therapy for many of them who have cerebral palsy. I love my job and everything that comes with it. I don’t get paid, and I’m living off of a small bit of savings. However, I knew that if I did not take this opportunity now, I might not have the chance to take a year off until much later in life. Right now, while I have nothing tying me down, I wanted to see what I can do. I have students some that are five, and some that are my age and older that are still struggling to eat on their own, put on their own clothes, and reading, writing, and arithmetic aren’t even a consideration. I figured, if I can make their lives a bit easier, then that success will mean more to me than any money ever will.