It all started with a single interaction. When I was 11 years old, my family and I visited a small village on the outskirts of Mumbai India. While my parents would be volunteering in the local schools as chiropractors, my brother and I would play with the local children. We loved it so much that every year we went back to the same village but everything changed when I turned 13. Something that my
13 year old brain couldn’t understand. Most of my friends weren’t at school. We found out that in this area the government pays for school fees and school uniforms only up until they are 12 years old but after the age of 12 the government stops with the uniform contribution which causes enormous school drop out levels in these poor communities. Most of my friends that were girls became mothers at the age of 12. And most of my friends that were guys started working in factories at the age of 12 because they couldn’t afford the compulsory school uniform. As a 13 year old girl growing up in the west I could not believe that something so simple and so affordable like a school uniform had such an life changing impact on my friends. My brother and I started designing and selling t-shirts to pay for their school uniforms. 3 years ago, on my 14th birthday, I sold my first t-shirt, 5 months later, we delivered our first school uniforms. We employ the local woman to make the school uniforms and then we give the school uniforms to the children who otherwise must leave school. I am Dali. A 17 year old girl living in NYC with a dream to give 1 million school uniforms by 2020. Girls shouldn’t have to be mothers at the age of 12. Boys shouldn’t have to work in a factory at the age of 12
Change lives. Start a ripple
