“Sahasra Deepika’s vision has always been about the future of the girls in Bangalore. We want to prioritize their education and help them shape themselves to become someone who can change the future by being a leader, and of course, embracing who they really are. We came from different lives and different stories, and that doesn’t define who you are and who you will be in the future. ”
Every person has a story. These stories are what make us who we are. Maybe people are defined by a single defining moment that changed or shaped who they are. Maybe people are made of a collection of stories. Either way, behind the exterior of any person, lies the experiences of their life. From the outside, we can never truly know what makes a person who they are or what challenges they have faced in their lifetime. The ever-popular saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover” in a way has alternative meaning other than not making assumptions about people from their appearance. It can also be read as saying without knowing a person’s stories we can never know who they really are.
I am currently a senior finishing my last semester of high school, my last few months living at home with my family, and my last moments being in a familiar environment. From the past eighteen years, I have countless memories as a student, friend, sister, and daughter. While the collection of these stories have led me to be who I am today, I realize that the experiences I have while in college and afterward will likely define what I choose to do with my life and who I will become as an adult.
When visiting Sahasra Deepika over the summer, I was inspired by the story within each and every girl I had the opportunity to talk to. Their openness in sharing their experiences led me to develop a new respect for each and every one of them. I have been a youth ambassador for Sahasra Deepika for three years now and feel blessed to have had the ability to share my ideas and opinions in writing. This is a form of expression that I felt the girls at Sahasra Deepika, with stories and experiences that have the power to inspire people, deserved as well. I decided to help create a newspaper for Sahasra Deepika. The name of the newspaper, we, the girls at Sahasra Deepika and I created together is called Sahasra Deepika Journeys. I feel that this name, thought of by the girls at Sahasra Deepika, is the perfect description of what the newspaper strives to accomplish. My hope is that in reading the personal stories of the girls in the paper, others will realize that these girls are real people who have been on a real journey. These girls are real people that have overcome hardship and have become knowledgeable and strong individuals because of it. These are real people with the potential to do great things in this world.
The first issue of the Sahasra Deepika journey includes personal anecdotes from ManuShree, Gowri, Sushma, Kavya, and Triveni, all of who exercise a greater amount of resilience than I thought possible. For example, ManuShree wrote of her experience leaving an abusive home life and how she was able to start anew while at Sahasra Deepika. ManuShree says, “Sahasra Deepika means thousands of light; it’s really true. Whoever comes here will really become a good student and they will have success in life.”
As I sit here reading their stories, I think of how their experiences have made them who they are and have impacted me, a girl more than 8,000 miles away. While from the outside we can never fully understand what they have been through, we can become inspired by the journey they have been on. They each have a voice: voices that have the power to inspire girls around the world.
My name is Neha Mukherjee and I am 17 years old and in 12th grade at Episcopal Academy in Pennsylvania. I was born and raised in the United States, but like to keep strong ties with my Indian heritage. I have a passion for community service, especially in regard to education, and am proud to be a Youth Ambassador for Sahasra Deepika Foundation for Education.
