{"id":166765,"date":"2024-04-21T08:46:19","date_gmt":"2024-04-21T06:46:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=166765"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:18","slug":"mahika-is-committed-to-educating-the-impoverished-youth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2024\/04\/21\/mahika-is-committed-to-educating-the-impoverished-youth\/","title":{"rendered":"Mahika is committed to educating the impoverished youth"},"content":{"rendered":"

After witnessing the lives of children living below the poverty line in Myanmar, Mahika Mohanan\u2019s tireless initiatives in providing education opportunities for children led her to pursuing a degree in Management of International Social Challenges. Her passion for \u2013 and ability to \u2013 catalyse change gives her hope in providing quality education to children.<\/p>\n

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Education is a basic fundamental right. As long as not everyone child has access to that fundamental right, Mahika will carry on.<\/span><\/p>

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Mahika (20) has an impressive resume when it comes to being of service to those in need. A nomination-worthy initiative of hers is the \u2018Enlightening Minds and Illuminating Lives\u2019 program in Myanmar, through which she provided fifty students of underprivileged families with sustainable solar lamps. She is also an active ambassador of the United World Schools (UWS), a charity which aims to provide quality education to remote areas worldwide. Described as \u2018a beacon of altruism for others to emulate\u2019, her commitment to service for others is further exemplified by her UN award-winning video <\/a>on promoting quality education for all.<\/p>\n

How did you manage to initiate the \u2018Enlightening Minds and Illuminating Lives\u2019 program?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIn tenth grade, we had a trip to a village called Wan Kaung in Myanmar with my school, and this was my first interaction with children who lived below the poverty line. The entire village were children of opium farmers, and so a difficulty they faced is that their parents wanted them to work in the farms during the day and at night, they didn\u2019t have any electricity, so they couldn\u2019t study at night. So I thought of the provision of solar lamps, which is easier than installing a solar home system and healthier than kerosene lamps. I was in the process of contacting organisations for help, and one company eventually helped me procure those lamps from India to Myanmar.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I eventually had the lamps with me, there was a military coup in Myanmar, which made it difficult to go to remote areas because of violence. I ended up going to a different village in Myanmar, where electricity was not available, and then I distributed one solar lamp to each family that had a student in it. So even though the project started off for Wan Kaung village, it ended up in a different village. But I was happy it ended in a way that was helpful to someone.\u201d<\/p>\n

What motivates you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like that trip hit a nerve. A lot of countries including India, where I come from, live in this continuous poverty cycle. If you want to do anything in your life, I feel like education is the first step, and it\u2019s the only thing that can take you out of the poverty cycle. If we really want to become citizens of tomorrow, then every child needs to get education; it\u2019s a fundamental right! It\u2019s in the constitution of almost every country that you need to get an education.\u201d<\/p>\n

What isn\u2019t always easy?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIn Asian countries there is a huge mindset barrier. Education is a process where the outcome is only seen after a couple of years. So you don\u2019t see the immediate outcome and because many times parents do not see the immediate outcome, they don\u2019t want to invest in it. So people have a mindset that they don\u2019t earn, so they don\u2019t bring to the family, and they lose money if they invest in their child.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn a personal level, helplessness is a challenge. How much can a tenth grade student actually do to make an impact? Even now, getting in touch with organisations, creating pitches, showing that I\u2019m actually interested in my causes, you have to be really persistent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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