This school dropout wants to bring better healthcare and education to the underserved communities in J&K
Rohit Kumar, lives near the India–Pakistan International border in a small village called Korotana Kalan in Jammu. To earn his bread and butter, he runs ‘Holidays Hunt,’ which caters to people looking for holiday packages in Jammu and Kashmir.Rohit is a school dropout, who staunchly believes that people need to help those in need. Since the last seven years, he has been organising blood donation camps in Jammu and Kashmir. He says that he also launched north India’s first online blood bank ‘IndiaDonor.in,’ which is now shutting down due to paucity of appropriately skilled people to run it. Not one to be deterred and with his heart is completely in serving the people of his state and country, on July 20, 2015, he registered and founded a charitable trust called ‘Perfect Foundation.’
Rohit says that the mission is to establish, support, and grant aid to schools, colleges, libraries, reading rooms, universities, laboratories, research and other institutions of the same nature in India, starting from Jammu and Kashmir.
Perfect Foundation
Presently, the foundation has two areas of focus – education and healthcare. Born and brought up in the state, he knows the problems of the people in and out and hence didn’t need much research to get off the ground and start contributing.
In the healthcare area, Perfect Foundation has been organising blood donation and health check-up camps.
In the sphere of education, Perfect Foundation runs a programme called ‘Donate School Kits’ for the underprivileged children in the state.
Why a school kit?
“A school kit is an incentive for a child to go to school with a smiling face. We are very keen to reduce school dropouts and plans to distribute a smart school kit for such students. School kit keeps children’s interest in education,” says Rohit.
Perfect Foundation collects requirements of needy students from various schools during beginning of a calendar year. Volunteers assemble these kits, which are then handed over to the schools. Rohit adds, “When the schools reopen, the kits are distributed to students in presence of our volunteers. Thus, ensuring a total transparency in distribution.”
For the thousands of children around us whose parents cannot afford to buy new school kits every year, Perfect Foundation appeals to the socially conscious people to donate school kits to the Jammu and Kashmir flood-hit, poor, and needy students. Each kit costs Rs 1050. It includes – one school bag, notebooks, a pencil or geometry box, a drawing book, and a colour crayon box for primary students.
Rohit talks about the condition in Jammu and Kashmir, “As many as 44 persons lost their lives and 25 got injured. 12,565 structures have been damaged fully. A chunk of cattle also perished during the Jammu and Kashmir floods earlier this year, Perfect Foundation decided to help the affected civilians – beginning from their kids. Not just kids from Kashmir, we aim at providing these kits to the children from India–Pakistan International Border and LOC as well.”
Team and challenges
Other than Rohit, the core team has Archana Kaul as the Vice Chairperson, Omkar and Ankush Dogra are the Trustees, Raju Paras handles the social media function, and Ashish Kaul is the President for operation in Delhi.
Perfect Foundation is funded by friends and family. As of now, there is no support from corporates or the government.
Rohit says that there are two main challenges, one of which is evident to every Indian. The first is the floods in the last couple of years. The second he adds, “Pakistan shelling at International Border and Line of Control disrupts everything and education takes a backseat. I don’t want to get into this but ours is a sensitive state that has seen the most terrorism due to which basic opportunities and amenities like employment, healthcare, and education have taken a beating.”
For this 25-year-old, the world is not a bed of roses and but he isn’t a cynic. In fact he dreams of being the beacon of light to those in need. Rohit draws inspiration from the great freedom fighter, Shaheed Bhagat Singh and wants to devote his life to making life better for the underserved communities. Rohit also says that if celebrities paid a little more attention to the state and contributed in any small way, it would do wonders.
Rohit named his organisation Perfect Foundation because that is what he wants to attain – a perfect healthcare and education system for those who need it most.
