22nd Febraury, Hanumanthanagar. It was an exciting day since this was the first event being conducted by Walk Free Global Academy of Technology, at Sree Kumaraswamy School located in Hanumanthanagar, a central place in Bangalore. This event was an awareness drive covering Child Labour and Child abuse exclusively with motivational talks and sing-alongs. Walk Free Global team consisted of 10 members led by Vinay karthik and Sindhu, with the awareness program starting exactly at 10.35AM on February 22^nd in front of an audience consisting of students from 7^th to 10^th grade.

The event started off with Sindhu giving an explanation of what Walk Free is, how it has been creating awareness programs in Bangalore for the past 6 months and its impact on the society in Bangalore as well as the world. This was followed by a motivational speech by Nagendra that mesmerized everyone present in the classroom; Students, teachers, the Principal and us teammates as well. The speech Nagendra gave covered topics of young achievers and children who despite bad situations rose upto the task showing bravery and valour to achieve the greatest of heights. This amazing 30 minute talk came to an end with Nagendra quoting Swami Vivekananda, the most influential youth icon in India.

After the speech which left the students motivated and filled with enthusiasm, Ravishankar started with a talk on Child Labour and its causes in the regional language Kannada to which the students could connect with their heart. We had an open discussion engaging the students on what they would do if in case they come across Child labour. We were very much surprised by the answers and the spirit they had to stop this evil in India, making us all the very much happier that we did make a proper impact with this program.

The students and teachers were encouraged to sing along to a song in called “Araluva Hoovugale”, a popular song in the regional language Kannada, wrapping up an amazing session and program that left everybody in high spirits and a lit fire that would shed the needed light to end Modern Slavery in India. The event came to a complete wrap exactly at 12.30PM with the lunch bell echoing the school’s corridor.

Acknowledgements:

The Walk Free Global team and myself, Vinay Karthik would like to thank the Head Mistress, the Faculty and Sree Kumaraswamy Vidya Mandir School for letting us organize this program in their venue and for the opportunity to impact young minds in the positive way that they so rightfully need. We would also like to thank Walk Free Bangalore team for this wonderful opportunity and task given to us.