This 14-year-old from Hyderabad is helping light up the homes and lives of rural children with solar lamps. Here's how

Solar power is a boon for those rural areas where electricity is unable to make headway. It is a ray of hope, especially for the children who sometimes have to burn the midnight oil for their academic pursuits. This realisation dawned upon Anvitha Kollipara when she was visiting her grandparents in Kapileswarapuram, a village in Karnataka. "I saw many children unable to study because of electricity problems. And I wanted to help but with a solution that is in abundance, safe for the planet and better than electricity," says the 14-year-old.

The student of International School of Hyderabad connected with Srinivas Sankoratri from Rajahmundry. He conducts online workshops on making solar-powered lamps and it is with him that she connected six months ago to learn the art herself. She even interned with him during his workshops to understand his ways better. And under her own initiative, CareGood Foundation, she started SolarGood.

She recently completed the Young Researchers for Social Impact programme from Young Leaders for Active Citizenship (YLAC)

Soon the ninth grader was on her own, getting in touch with government schools in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and conducting solar lamp-making workshops. She has conducted two, each of which had an attendance of 30 people, both from rural and urban areas. The rural folks, however, were sent sponsored kits to make the solar lamps and were not charged anything for the workshops either. "We either send it to them directly or to their school," says the Connecticut-born youngster.

The workshops on Zoom begin with Anvitha talking about the importance of solar power and then, they start to build the solar lamp. "It is all customised. For those who don't have access to the internet, we call and guide them personally. And until the participants of the workshops learn how to make the solar lamp, we conduct a series of workshops, over two days or even three," says the teenager who wants to grow up to be a medical lawyer.  

During an online workshop | (Pic: CareGood Foundation)

And as far as the future of this initiative is concerned, Anvitha says that, "I hope to expand this initiative to states like Telangana and Tamil Nadu as well." And for this, she has joined hands with Milaap, the fundraising platform, for SolarGood. Her aim is to raise funds for more children so that she can supply them with the solar lamp-making kits and help bring light into their world.

The kit contains:
- Solar lantern, diya and more
- Bulbs
- Bulb holder, hanging and mountable
- Solar system of 20 watts

For more about her work, check out facebook.com/CareGoodFoundation