Dream a Dream came to me at a juncture where I was trying to find my purpose and contribute meaningfully to society. My idea was to be a ‘CFO-on-wheels’ and use 15 years of my work experience and business skills. My husband Shankar, who taught software project management, had assigned his students a project at Dream a Dream and he spoke highly of Vishal’s motivation and the organization’s mission. So, I cold-called Vishal (Co-founder, Dream a Dream), asking him if I could support Dream a Dream’s financial processes as a consultant. Vishal honestly and apologetically told me that he could only pay me Rs. 3,000 a month, but that he could use the services. I was thrilled to be paid at all and excited to start working. With motherhood commitments and two kids under 6 years of age, my choice to be there for them and find meaningful work was the bonus!
In 2007, Dream a Dream ran out of a ramshackle house, built right by a large sewage canal, with coffee delivery by Vijay, cheerfully dubbed by the team as ‘Cholera Café.’ We went on to slowly, but surely build a system to do basics, track expenses and provide financial statements for an audit process. Once the basics were done, we budgeted better, provided timely information for decision making and started being a proactive finance team of two people. The location of the office was convenient for me – I would dash in for two hours when my son was in a school close by and work from home in the afternoon. We saw a lot of good and challenging times here – we saw funds coming in, we also struggled with FCRA prior permissions. I have stayed up many nights wondering how we would pay salaries (the funds committed to us were sitting in a bank account abroad, but we couldn’t touch it). We soon received a permanent FCRA clearance. There are so many memories of that office that has stayed with me. Rushing our colleague, Mr. Kelkar to the hospital when he was having a heart attack and how the whole office moved seamlessly to get him to medical care safely. Running our first TCS 10K and fundraising as a team.
In March 2009, we then moved to a lovely old bungalow in a calm street in Jayanagar. By this time, I was working a lot more from the office, participating in programme meetings, being part of the leadership team, giving hiring suggestions, interviewing people and in general, being a more consistent employee. My kids would come with me to work and be around with the team, helping them with work when they could. They also went to see Taare Zameen Par with the entire team, full of ‘uncles’ and ‘aunties/akkas’ watching over them, just like we watched over young people in our programmes.
Dream a Dream is not just a force in my life personally, it is also an important change agent in my family’s history. Once, a new NGO, run by a team of young women being mentored by Vishal, visited and praised how our finance function supported programmes, helping the team figure out how to make things happen instead of telling them what couldn’t be done. Our financial statements also got an award by Credibility Alliance in 2010 as we were very transparent, adding notes that went beyond Indian standards. A shout-out to the accounts team – starting with Mr. Kelkar, Sridhar and Poonam: all professionals who worked (sometimes) quietly but with a ton of commitment to the organisation. Dream a Dream made it to the top three finalists at the GDN 2009 Global Development Awards (Most Innovative Development Project) and Vishal travelled to Prague in January 2010. We all contributed to his presentation and waited with bated breath for the results (We were a runner-up)!
Running marathons, Vishal’s Ashoka fellowship, monthly updates, leadership reports, annual reports, team meetings, team celebrations, team retreats, birthdays, tour of Dharavi, visits to other NGOs, visits from other NGOs, pitching to board members, writing the first Accounting Procedures manual, creating documentaries, our 10th year celebration, skits imitating Vishal and his trusty scooter, plays at Rangashankara by Bangalore Little Theatre, laughing our guts out at lunches on the Jayanagar house terrace, meeting Rahul Dravid…we did it all! As a team, we bonded – all age groups and diverse backgrounds with a common purpose: the young people we worked with and how we could meaningfully contribute to their success. It truly was a family. I am proud that we said no to funds when we felt it did not contribute to Dream a Dream’s mission, even when it would have been a welcome influx. Staying true to mission in both letter and spirit was important.
I think there should be a Dream a Dream Alumni association. It has seeded so many social sector professionals, who all continue to contribute to society. It has been my privilege to be a tiny cog in the growth of this organisation and I am so proud to see them signing contracts with governments and impacting our country’s education system on a scale. I can’t talk about Vishal through mere words – he’s someone who deeply matters to me and who I will always support, however I can.
I left due to personal reasons in 2010, to support the needs of one of my personally parented children. I have since changed careers to become an inclusion specialist, working to reframe inclusion in schools. I see the importance of life skills daily: for adults and children alike, the presence and consistent use of life skills is what makes a person successful. The team that started Dream a Dream, the original co-founders were prescient in setting the organisation’s mission. The current team has done very well to refine, prune and improve as needed to raise awareness and implement life skills delivery through partnerships and training.
What I know now is that change is possible, and is almost certain, if a safe and enabling eco-system is built for life skills delivery through sports, arts, debating and other activities in every school, institution, town and country. While this is something children from vulnerable backgrounds need, I see this as a need in very privileged and educated populations as well – adults and children alike. I am more committed to Dream a Dream’s mission now, with all that I get to see in my work.
My wish for Dream a Dream is meaningful scale – covering more people in India and globally. My continuing friendships with some of the alumni of Dream a Dream programmes tell me that it is completely possible, though complex, for children shaped by adversity to be the solution, by just being independent, conscious, contributing adults. Our country needs many more Manjunaths, Revannas and Pavithras – happy, committed and life-skilled citizens who are driving this change.
Signing off with a lot of gratitude and affection: may this organisation see many more decades of work with the world’s young ones, impacting both their intended and unintended audiences!
About the Author:
Sangitha Krishnamurthi was a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and worked at Dream a Dream. She has since requalified as an inclusive educator and started The Teachers Collective, a company that works to reframe inclusion in schools, working to help all teachers work with all students in diverse classrooms. Their mission is to reach 1,00,000 teachers in the next few years.