Our Work
The first batch of Project 18 started in August and went on for three months. We explored the idea of “adulting in Isolation” as a wicked problem by virtue of it having complex and interconnected cause and effects. Individual experiences and diverse perspectives made for a rich mind map that helped the group navigate the problem that careleavers (young people who grow up in care homes and have to leave at 18) face.A theoretical framework came to life during the interactions with the Young People and Ramya Sundarajan the CEO of WeLive. Ramya offered an honest perspective on what it takes to run WeLive , the highs and the lows and despite all the challenges the impact that it has made in the lives of the young people .
Exchanging stories and exploring ways to contribute meaningfully
Exploring each other's worlds and finding common ground was a constant theme in the internship , this helped ground the understanding of the challenges faced by careleavers and the not- for profit organisation. Learning more about the history and the forms of resource mobilisation helped the interns craft exciting strategies some of which we implemented.
Meher
Neev Academy, 12th Grade
Having arrived at the Karnataka State Council for Children Welfare, I was sweating buckets. I’ve never been especially confident in social situations, and the whole car ride, I had just been rehearsing the things that I might say or that I might ask others. The first session, however, had been easy, allowing me to meet with people who deeply cared about the issue at hand, and in many ways were similar to me. The team did not for a moment allow us to stop, and we dove headfirst into understanding the situation better. The next week, we had the opportunity to speak with some of the youth, and the CEO of WeLive. Khushbu had been my partner, and hearing the harrowing stories she narrated, about the peace she had found in life, the things she was saying struck a chord in me, that what we were doing did matter.
Our internship culminated in us organizing and executing a fundraiser of my own. I, and two others decided to work in collaboration with PreLoved to sell second-hand clothes and raise funds for the youth at WeLive. As the day of the fundraiser began, I was a bit unnerved, what would we do? Would people even buy our clothes, what if we could raise no money? But there was Prabhu. Prabhu reassured us that people cared, and they would buy clothes, and though we had set ourselves a meagre goal of earning Rs 4000, Prabhu encouraged us to think higher. 4000 became 6000, then 10000, then 15000 and by the end of the day we had raised a little over Rs.16000. The fundraiser not only left me with a feeling of satisfaction but also reminded me how much I had grown over the past couple of months. When I first arrived, I had been too nervous to speak, and by the fundraiser, I was going up to people encouraging them to visit our stall, persuading them to buy something for a friend, or simply just try something on. It goes without saying how gratifying this whole experience has been, and a huge thanks goes to my fellow interns and the team from Rootbridge and WeLive who helped me, but mostly to the youth at WeLive, who reminded me that small changes do count and that anyone can inspire a small change.
Shreshta
National public school, 11th Grade
When I got this opportunity, I was excited and optimistic as to what was to come. I did not know what was expected out of me, or what I could expect from this experience. This was my first internship that happened face-to-face, where I got to learn something under experienced mentors. I was excited to see how this internship would change me, and in hindsight I’d say it changed me for the better.
The first F2F session we had was an ice-braker session. Here were my first impressions of the group I was with – my new peers were very kind and were very very smart and introspective; the mentors I was going to be working and learning under were very friendly and approachable (other than extremely funny, knowledgeable and cultured). I feel like these sorts of internships seem like they’re very serious business through and through, but the people I met here made me feel welcome and comfortable.
The second F2F was us conversing with YPs themselves as well as the CEO- Ms.Ramya in the WeLive organic store. Talking to the YPs was, for me, just fun and interesting. The YP I met was friendly and talkative (I mean that in the best way). We conversed mainly in Hindi, and I appreciate his patience while he tried to decode my broken Hindi. The talk we had with Ms. Ramya was the part where I felt like I learnt the most during this internship. She explained everything from the motivation to begin this social enterprise, to the operations and functions, to the conditions under which they are working (i.e. donations, government policies, politics etc.) and the lives YPs.
It was informative and made me realise the number of problems and points of view I had never thought of. Even though sometimes we feel as though we understand the things that are happening around us, there will always be instances that will make us think ‘I really DO live in a bubble then.’
The next few sessions- both online and F2F sessions- became more tuned towards the main goal- the fundraising project. We had one session about resource mobilization, that gave me a peek into the logistics part of our fundraising project.
My team and I (3 of us) decided to have a stall, in association with The PreLoved Co., in a small-sized mela in JP Nagar to raise funds. We initially had a lot of ideas that we ultimately had to scrap due to either budget/time constraints or just due to the fact that we couldn’t really expect great footfall.
We were able to confidently choose one idea and execute every part of it right because we were able to message, have one-on-one calls to discuss, debate and get pragmatic advice from the mentors at Project 18. Even though we did try to do most of the work, we wouldn’t have accomplished much without the constant encouragement we got from our guides.
To execute this plan, we first had to go to The PreLoved co, where we were able to sort, tag and box up clothes we thought was fit (taste-wise and occasion-wise) for the demographic of people we knew we were catering to. We then sent those clothes to the venue of the mela. The day of the mela, we three came early to set up the clothes on the racks, and in the boxes, label them, and set up the stand. We had a small shocker early that morning, because the weather did not seem to be on our side - it started pouring :’). We were careful and had a few precautions in place so we wouldn’t get badly affected if things weather-wise did go south. But thankfully, the rain gods heard our prayers and gave us beautiful weather for the rest of the day. It really changed the prospect of the day (and the mood) and the success we hoped for.
Through the day I learnt how to talk to people more spontaneously, grab their attention, make them interested in what I was saying, answer questions based on what I thought would convince them to support the cause we were here for, and understand the needs of the people, before trying to satisfy them.
I feel that these three months have helped me understand people better, understand the intricacies of trying to solve social problems such as this, management skills and communication skills. And as a humanities student I feel like these learnings will stick with me, and I can apply these lessons in everything I intend to do in the future.
