Visakhapatnam: What was supposed to be a trip to make children get a glimpse of Indian culture and roots turned out to be a much meaningful vacation as a group of foreign children accompanied by their parents reach out to students studying in government schools in Visakhapatnam, lending support to a host of community service activities.

Flying down all the way from Chicago, Prashanth Reddy, who is into seafood business, says that his two children Rohan Reddy (14) Saaya Reddy (10) have been pretty much excited to connect with Indian students, teach what they could, serve and above all, spend time with them and understand their constraints from close quarters. “In the US, children are far more blessed. They have the best of education as a lot of resources are available to them,” shares Prashanth Reddy with The Hans India.

Although he left India long back for professional reasons, Prashanth Reddy mentions that being an Indian-American, he wanted his children to understand Indian roots and culture. “Here, life is not that easy for a lot of children of the same age group. This is what we want our children to understand about. Our culture, our roots and make them work for the schools, provide drinking water by installing RO plants, impart tuition classes, organise medical camps for students and their families, supply daily essentials and serve meals,” he elaborates.

This way, Prashanth Reddy, who keeps frequenting India, believes that children will get to know the world he has come from. “It allows them to experience it and embrace it for the rest of their life. We want our children to appreciate our culture, want to give back, make them realise how fortunate they are and how important it is to give back to the country we have come from,” he emphasises.

Appreciating the Akshaya Patra Foundation and Touch Stone Charities, affiliated to the foundation, for their charity works, Prashanth Reddy notices that a number of children have been benefitted through the foundation’s mid-day meals and other service-oriented endeavours.

Along with Prashanth Reddy and his children, another family Kelly Arora, her husband Ashish Arora and their children Ahna Arora, Elina Arora and Daiven Arora too joined the voluntary service in government schools. “This is the first time we are visiting India. It gave us a great opportunity to work with children in the country. I feel education is very important and so is understanding the concepts and collaborations. I look forward to revisiting India in future,” shares 14-year-old Ahna Arora while spending time with the students.

In Visakhapatnam, the families from Chicago visited Zilla Parishad High School, Vellanki and Mandal Parishad Primary High School, Boddapalem in Anandapuram mandal.