Abhita Reddy (WCAS11)

While some people use their family connections to get ahead in the world, Abhita Reddy (WCAS11) is using hers to help inspire a new generation of students.

In her freshman year, when she first visited her father's birthplace in Ananthaiahgaripalli, India, she was stricken by the dearth of education in the poor farming village.

“Nearly 100 children were packed into a single room, in the hottest months of the year,” she recalls. “There was no playground, no electricity. With nothing to keep them motivated, the students just came and left as they pleased.” 

These conditions were scarcely an improvement from what her father, Sanjeevani T. Reddy, experienced as a child. Determined to have a full education, Reddy’s father fasted for three days until his family agreed to borrow the funds necessary to transport him to a school in a neighboring village. From there, he went on to earn a PhD in biochemistry at an Indian university, and an MD at an American university.

“When he returns to his village, it always strikes me how much the people admire him,” Reddy says.

In the village’s native language of Telugu, her father’s name means “one who infuses life,” and Reddy hopes to infuse life into the village as well. So, in her sophomore year, the anthropology major with a concentration in human biology envisioned and founded the Sanjeevani Project, which has set a goal to raise $50,000 by July 1, 2010, to build and maintain a new school for the children of Ananthaiahgaripalli.

Reddy is the first to admit that the project is an ambitious one indeed.

“It's always difficult in these things, because you are afraid of imposing your own values on another culture,” she explains.

Fortunately, in her many visits to the village, she has discovered nothing but growing enthusiasm among the villagers as they imagine a better education for their children. Reddy also hopes that, by naming the school after her father, the people will think of Sanjeevani T. Reddy's story and realize their own potential through a great education.

To date, the Sanjeevani Project has purchased a 10-acre plot of land for the building, and a Northwestern professor will offer a course this spring in which students will create an environmentally-sustainable design for the school. In the meantime, Reddy and other team members are getting ready for the two-month long trip they will take to Ananthaiahgaripalli this summer. For one, all of them will attend a language class in Telugu, taught by Reddy’s mother.

Reddy has managed to find a home at Northwestern as well. In addition to her studies in anthropology and medicine, she follows her lifelong love of music by performing with the Deeva Dance Troupe, starring in the SASA show and taking lessons in opera singing at the Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music.

Will the arts also find their way into the Sanjeevani Project?

“A lot of us involved with the project are dancers,” she says, “And we hope that by teaching the children dances or playing sports with them, we can get them excited about the new school.”

One of the team’s challenges this summer will be to provide incentives for the children to come to the new school—play-time and learning will be important in the school’s founding.

“I plan to stay with the school and work there for at least a year after graduation,” Reddy says with resolve. “And there will definitely be a playground!”

Learn more about the Sanjeevani Project.

 

Posted April 6, 2010.