As the UN states, more than 1 billion people in the world are hungry and malnourished, with roughly 146 million children in developing countries being underweight. Of these, 1 in every 3 malnourished children, in the world lives in India. They could find their way out of this crippling cycle of poverty through education but chances are that by the time they grow up, they will have completed only 4.5 years of schooling. That’s hardly enough to attain the most basic literacy skills, let alone find a respectable, well paying job. Even an optimist would call this a half empty glass: one section of the world lives on in luxury while another scrapes by with barely enough food to stay healthy. What can any one person do anyway? The problem is too complex.

Monica Sadhu, one of Akshaya Patra’s most enthusiastic volunteers begs to differ. After hearing about the Foundation at a music concert she was inspired to volunteer. She got herself introduced, visited the schools, learned more about our work and then did something very few of us bother to do. She tried to make a difference. Monica was only in 8th Standard when she started to volunteer for Akshaya Patra. “The children inspired me. They didn’t have a single ounce of shyness in them,” she says. Many people would be inspired too. They may even talk about it with their friends. Then they would go about their life and by the end of the day, forget to be inspired .

Monica, however, remembered, and resolved to do something. “ She began very simply, one step at a time, “In the initial stages, I focused primarily on spreading awareness…I told everyone I knew about the organization.” By the end of her 9th however, she realized she wanted to do more, “I had to do much, much more to make a significant difference to AP [Akshaya Patra] and the children it feeds everyday…I understood the need to spread awareness.” So she asked her friends to involve their schools and increased her efforts in the community. When she visited schools, she realized many of the children needed basic education in health care, so with the help of her friend’s mother, a doctor, she has planned a series of lessons for students. Starting this September 2010, she will start giving talks to these children on good hygiene.

Now in 11th Standard, Monica has spent close to 2 years volunteering for the organization and is as enthusiastic as ever. From facing skeptics who doubted anything could be done to help children in India, to finding ways of making difference in any way she could, Monica has worked enthusiastically to stand up and do something when others would merely stand by and criticize. Her volunteering experience has given her a new perspective of the world we live in, “Though I was aware of the problems poor families face, I began to see them in real life. I understood that education is the only means by which India can be freed from the terrible cycles of poverty and hunger.”

So even though the glass seems half empty and skeptics will always tch tch and say nothing can be done, change is still possible. Here is an example of the just how much one person can do if they really put their mind to it.