A blog is not enough to capture my journey and association with Dream a Dream. This is a full-blown Netflix series with multiple, action-packed seasons! But let me try…
SEASON 1 – THE BEGINNING
It was the year 2002. I was at Dell and as part of Dell CSR, I volunteered to help for an activity with Ananya, an NGO that Dell was partnering with. This was a fun day out with children from Ananya at a farmhouse. Vishal was there and this was my first meeting with him.
After this weekend, I signed up as a volunteer with Dream a Dream. Weekdays was corporate life- jam packed. Weekends were spent dipping my fingers in many pies with Dream a Dream. Co-ordination with other organisations such as Freedom Foundation, being involved with the hockey programme, any and all of it. Also jam packed.
After some time, I decided to get more involved and set up a structured volunteer management system for them. I also became a part of the organisation’s core committee. Meanwhile, the scope of my involvement with Dream a Dream got broader and deeper. I used my plays to raise money. I ran the Mumbai marathon with a fundraising target. Hippocampus was running libraries for underprivileged children; I got involved with Dream a Dream’s reading programme. Basically, doing whatever was needed.
Being a part of the core committee, I got to know more and see and learn about the growth and future of Dream a Dream and it convinced me that I wanted to deepen my engagement with them. Around this time, the organisation was going through a restructuring, and a new board was going to be formed. There was a recommendation that the new board should have some representation from the volunteer ecosystem. Anyone who knows me, knows my penchant for speaking up and so it was no surprise that I got picked to be on the board!
SEASON 2 – THE GROWTH YEARS
Being on the board of an NGO was a significant growth and learning experience for me. This period of my association with Dream a Dream went beyond volunteering to having the opportunity to put my professional skills to work.
I worked closely with Vishal. Together, we worked with partners and stakeholders to envision and build the next version of Dream a Dream. We put life skills front and centre, strengthening the foundation of what the organisation would become. I got a close look at the social sector, and we were able to address the typical NGO growing pains with bringing in good talent, recognisable programmes and institution-building.
When Vishal got his Ashoka fellowship, it got me closer to the Ashoka ecosystem as well. All this set the foundation for me to envision myself as a professional in the impact sector. In some way, this also led to the birth of my pre-Sattva consulting firm, Itihas.
SEASON 3 – HIGHLIGHTS
I stayed on the board until 2011 (I may have overstayed my term by a couple of terms, but that’s a story for another Netflix series!) but I can emphatically state that I’ve got a lot more than what I gave.
My time at Dream a Dream helped me understand education, children, youth, life skills and vulnerable communities very differently. The memories are countless but let me narrate a couple of incidents that have stayed with me.
There was a child in the NGO Ananya who was so great at sport and wanted to pursue his love for hockey. Staying in school was a path for him to follow this dream as he would have the infrastructure. However, his mother took him and his siblings out of school. We went looking for them in the slum and met the mother. She countered us by asking us what they would live on. When she questioned us on her livelihood, I realised how complex and multi-dimensional these issues are. Eventually the boy did go back to school. He lives separately now and supports the family.
The other huge learning for me has been the lesson in humility. All the fun times with the kids, taking them to sports, tournaments, summer camps, swimming, trekking, singing – with their joy and fearlessness they showed me how to go all out, have fun and be a kid again. To be fearless. To ask questions. To be humble.
The other incident that has stayed with me took place at a painting competition where I was the facilitator. The theme for the competition was ‘neighbourhood’. One child wrote the word ‘neighbourhood’ on her sheet. The rest of the sheet was blank. So, I walked around, and I saw kids who had drawn the typical mountains, with the sun rising, a river, a house and so on. I went back to the first kid, and I saw she had drawn an Indian and Pakistani man shaking hands under the word ‘neighbourhood’. This was a big learning for me on how narrow our thinking can be. Incidentally, this kid won the 3rd prize at the competition.
I revisit these stories often. They have taught me – especially as a consultant today – that you cannot ‘advise’ without understanding the issues. It is very much a high horse of ‘educated types’ and we need to get off it.
NOT THE FINALE
Dream a Dream has given me so much. But in parallel, I have a lot of memories with Vishal too. A lot of fun and travel together, deep discussions on the organisation’s journey, on impact. The years of his warm friendship have also taught me to get my hands dirty and to contribute where I can add value. This has certainly built a strong base for what we created at Sattva. But by far, one of the most impactful learnings has been one of Vishal’s gifts to me. It’s a book on street children, where one of the children had written – If I were rain, I would go where water cannot be found.
My wish for Dream a Dream – they have always had a focus on children and youth. I hope they never lose that focus. Dream a Dream should be leading the conversation to make life skills mainstream. And I wish for them to have the opportunity and resources to realise this dream.
As I said earlier, a blog may not be enough. Perhaps we should work on that Netflix series after all!
About the Author:
Srikrishna Sridhar Murthy is the Co-founder and CEO of Sattva Consulting, bringing varied stakeholders together to work towards a sustainable world of opportunity for all.