Two Dubai siblings use their Math skills for a noble cause
Student duo raise funds for children of determination by solving problems
Dubai: Two young Indian expat brothers in Dubai have turned philanthropists. Raghav Krishna, 11, a grade 6 student at DPS Sharjah and his eight-year old brother Madhav Krishna studying in grade 3 student at NDPS Sharjah, are on a mission to promote education and overall empowerment of children of determination in the UAE.
The boys, both recipients of several awards for academics including the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Award 2020, are making several Math videos for students.
“During our family outings, my sons met some children of determination and they started researching on children with autism, down syndrome etc. This year in mid-2020, they brainstormed with us on how they can do something bigger to support these children of determination in their education and overall empowerment,” said Sumanth Seshadri, the boys’ father who works as head of compliance for a private company in Dubai. “And so the idea to donate to the fundraising campaign for the Ta’alouf programme of Al Jalila Foundation came up.”
Raghav and Madhav launched the campaign in mid-July 2020 and set a goal to raise Dh25,000 by December end.
The plan was to do videos of the boys tackling Maths puzzles. “For a couple of weeks, we worked on the problems and on our speed to finish solving the questions faster. We also opened an Instagram account “always.determined” and posted our accomplishments and videos with a personal appeal,” explained Raghav.
He and his brother Madhav appealed to people to ask them Maths questions. They provided instant answers using their skills. “People have been donating on the basis of the videos,” he said.
In just over one month, they smashed their goal of Dh25,000. Now the amount has crossed Dh29,000.
The boys’ campaign started during the peak of COVID-19. “But we went ahead with our plan to raise funds. The biggest difficulty was the lack of a personal touch as we could not haveface-to-face meetings. Also, the pandemic had put a monetary strain on people by way of job loss, salary cut etc. making it difficult for people to donate even if they had the inclination to help. So the boys resorted to posting videos on social media. “We did a lot of one-to-one and online group sessions through platforms like ZOOM and TEAMS,” said Raghav.
Raghav and Madhav feel that this is just a beginning and have taken a pledge to support the needy on a continuous basis by employing different innovative means for a noble cause in line with the motto “Service Before Self”.
“They are putting their natural talent to good use. I am really proud of them,” said Vedavalli Rengarajan, the boys’ mother who is a Bharatanatyam dance teacher and homemaker.