Round Square International Service Project

King Constantine medal Anushka Basu

This year Anushka Basu was winner of the prestigious King Constantine Award for her consistent effort towards service to the under privileges as well as the environment.

 

 

Anushka has been an avid nature lover. From a very young age she has shown keen interest in working towards protecting the environment. She believes that the only way to make something happen is ‘to do it yourself’. With the spirit of self-initiative and service mindedness, she looked out for avenues to help serve the environment and humanity. She would actively participate in service activities planned by her school.

 

Her service orientation is evident in her own words, “Wanting to do something about the accumulated garbage in the Mithi, I proposed and initiated a Mithi River Clean Up Project at my school earlier this year. Under my teacher's guidance designed a project aimed at cleaning the Mithi. This involves students from grades 5-12 partaking in weekly clean ups and conducting student-led workshops to educate the locals about a proper garbage disposal system” say Anushka.

 

 

Anushka was a part of the Round Square Big Build project in Ecuador in July 2018. Over the 2 weeks at the RSIS big Build, she worked relentlessly with 49 students from around the world to construct a community hall and day care centre in a small fishing village named Puerto Lopez, in Ecuador. The daily work of 7 to 8 hours on the worksite and the opportunity to be a Team Leader, Anushka lead her team to successful and efficient completion of the tasks.

 

In words of the Ecuador Project leader Carlos, “Anushka is an open and compassionate young adult who demonstrated perseverance and commitment during her time in Ecuador. Although she felt homesick for the first few days, she was happy to talk to new people and get out of her comfort zone. Anushka shared many things about her culture and life back home, which was not just interesting but also made the work more bearable. Anushka was kind enough to perform for the local families during the Family Day celebrated at the local primary school.

 

Anushka was highly praised by her peers for her support, care and genuine interest in what they had to share. Anushka was very thoughtful and often put the needs of others before her own. She maintained a positive attitude even when she had a challenging day.

 

As a leader, Anushka led by example and was good at resolving some minor conflicts amongst the students. She showed initiative and independence when leading the group throughout the day. During her time in Ecuador, Anushka gained more confidence and I am sure that she will be able to take on some responsibilities at school with more confidence”.

Moreover, during August 2019, Kerala experienced the worst floods in a century. Anushka was so moved by the tragic state of lives in Kerala that she initiated and led a school wide collection drive for essentials like food, medicines and clothes to send across to those in need. Along with a team of volunteers, she organised and executed the entire drive within 3 days, working for hours after a full day at school. Over 1000 people from the DAIS community brought in relief material and 220 cartons of the essential material was sent across to Kerala. “Knowing that my actions helped those in need was really meaningful to me”, quotes Anushka.

 

 

She was also a part of the core team of Moment of Joy, a student-led service project at DAIS that provides athletic funding, equipment and training to support the athletic needs of India's underprivileged talent pool. Over the years, the funds have helped over 100 athletes, some of whom have qualified for the national level in sports such as judo and boxing. Anushka and the team are organising a sports day for Aseema, a local NGO aimed at providing education for underprivileged children.

 

 

Furthermore, Anushka has also been an active volunteer at the Salvation Army Women and Children. By incorporating her Judo knowledge and applying it to real-life scenarios, she helped designed a programme to teach self-defence skills to the girls at a local NGO. They taught a batch of 30 girls aged 11-14 and ended each class by talking to them about empowerment, and having collaborative discussions on what alternative measures that can be taken as self-protection.

 

Anushka shares her service experiences, "Additionally, through my school I have volunteered at Advitya, an NGO and creative centre for those gifted with conditions like Down's syndrome, Autism and Cerebral Palsy among others. I have also participated in annual trips to the Hassachipatti village in Maharashtra as a volunteer for the ongoing DAIS Village Development Project where we are building an education centre and houses for the village community."

 

Anushka is also a recipient of the 2019 Harvard University Sustainability innovation award. She won this award for her innovation and service towards the environment through her Clean-up efforts. This award is granted to only 10 deserving students from around the world for their sustainable innovations and leadership.