July 21, 2016. WalkFree Global team conducted an awareness drive on Women Harassment and Child labour, along with a slice of Patriotism. The Principal of Sharada Shri Public School was incredibly supportive for our cause and encouraged us on to hold more such events in their school and elsewhere. The event started on 21st July at 10.30AM in one of the classrooms, with around 200 High school students.

Sindhu started off the event with a welcoming speech and set the stage. She even made sure that all the students were attentive by making them do a simple exercise. After having all of the students’ attention, she gave a brief idea of what WalkFree is and its impact worldwide. She promised to continue about the awareness after a patriotic speech by Nagendra.

Nagendra’s speeches are without a doubt really enticing and highly motivating. He spoke about Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (commonly known as Veer Savarkar) this time. We all know the main entities responsible for India’s independence. But how many of us know the remaining people who fought just as much, for the sake of our country? Savarkar was such a man who played an important role in the fight for Independence. Nagendra in his speech covered the bravery of this great man and inspired the students to be as brave as him. He also requested the students to be who they want to become, have pride in themselves and towards their mothers and also towards the women around them. His powerful message of respecting women echoed in the students’ minds. Nagendra ended his magic with a poof and handed over the stage to Subash.

Subash covered the importance of literature during our Independence and also explained the importance of education among children in this day and age. He subtly moved on from Independence to effects of Child Labour, and how it is impacting society and the child who is being treated under that circumstance. By the end of Subash’s speech, thanks to his good examples, the students realized that Child Labour and Women Harassment are issues that are around them but if they posed a united stand against these Modern Slavery, our society can be whole and happy in a way.

The event ended at 11.30AM with Sindhu wrapping up with a vote of thanks and a small activity to cheer up the students. This whole event wouldn’t have been a success without Swarnalatha, Manjunath, Dhanush and Tilak who handled all backstage parts and the presentation required as a visual aid to help the students follow. Overall, WalkFree Global team proved once again how motivated they are to drive forward a change, with a firm stand against Modern Slavery.