At IIT Kanpur, Praneeth received great support from Kanika Saraiya, his classmate and a good friend, who did her B.Tech in Kanpur. She knew the place well and was already associated with an orphanage there. They visited the orphanage on Praneeth’s birthday and found out that the facilities were in shambles. The bathrooms were broken and stained. Also, the beds weren’t that good. Initially, Praneeth’s and Kanika’s plans for the orphanage were short term, but considering the, drastic conditions they wanted to do more. They asked what the children wanted and it was a collective echo of clothing. The children treated them like their elder brother and sister. Some of the children wanted readymade clothes and the others, stitched. Some of the lighter moments were when the children would say “bro, I want clothes just like Rani Mukherjee’s, as they are “hip” and are in fashion”.
Praneeth and Kanika met with the tailor at IIT Kanpur and found out about different places in the city where they could find good tailors and also readymade clothes for children. On the day they gifted the children with the clothes, the children were all jumping with joy. They also gave a surprise party and cut a cake for the occasion.
One child we would like to talk about was Mamta, who showed tremendous leadership qualities. She would organize all the gatherings and her abilities were very impressive. It was a heartwarming experience that we will carry forward
Our long-run plans for this orphanage are:
- The overall development of the orphanage in terms of facilities.
- The development of the children’s skills by providing them different trainings.