BRICK BY BRICK
For Prasoon, the next foundation he is looking to lay is nurturing young people who want to make a positive impact. He says, “When a generation like ours hasn’t done a great job in building a more equitable and more environmentally sustainable world, it’s important that we inspire and motivate the younger ones to look at solving global problems, making money in a more socially conscious way, and being aware of their actions and repercussions on the world. Whenever students come to me, I never say no. If I get an opportunity to speak in a school or university, I take the time to do so.” Billionbricks has worked with youths in creative ways to raise awareness of global homelessness, including a social media campaign last June where American graduate students Olivia Rosen, Morgan Finegan and Sarah Guinee chronicled their 16-day road trip from the US east coast to the west coast with the weatherhyde tent in tow to demonstrate its strengths as a housing solution. Last December, students from the Anant National University in Ahmedabad, India volunteered to survey homeless communities and raise funds for buying the weatherhyde tent’s PVC pipe structures and distributing at least 24 tents to the homeless in their city. Closer to home, Prasoon was approached by Alisha Malhotra and Sanya Shete, two students from the United World College of South East Asia in Singapore, with a campaign to raise $27,000 to send 100 weatherhyde tents to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Alisha says, “At the time, the Rohingya issue was not being discussed to the extent that it should have been. Many of our schoolmates had no idea what it was even about. As a Muslim, this issue affected me on a very personal level. I was heartbroken when I saw the scale of people fleeing their homes for no reason other than their religion.” The students, who had previously interned at billionbricks during their summer holidays, had targeted to reach their goal within one month. To their surprise, they hit the numbers within seven days and local disaster relief agency Mercy Relief shipped and distributed the tents to the refugees the following week. Inspired by the difference they have made, Alisha and Sanya have gone on to create Youth for Impact, a platform for young people to exchange ideas and create awareness of global issues. In the pipeline is a collaboration with Amal (which means hope in Arabic), a foundation in Bangladesh that focuses on the health and educational well-being of underprivileged communities, to raise funds for 1,000 meals to be sent to refugees living in the Noapara and Leda camps there. Prasoon says that young change-makers like Alisha and Sanya will inspire a lot more action among their peers as they are the ones doing the work on the ground. “Our encouragement is essential in making sure that the spirit of wanting to make an impact stays alive and becomes a practical reality.”