Be the change, you want to see in the world, said Mahatma Gandhi.
17-year-old Mumbai boy, Eshan Balbale has done just that.
Disturbed at the sight of seeing kids walking through the stream of dirty canal everyday to get to their school, Eshan decided to take matters in his own hand.
The kids in Mumbai’s Sathe Nagar were forced to wade through the dirty industrial slush to get to the other side where their school was located. The only other route was 1.5 km long.
Inspite of several complaints and representation to the local authorities, nothing happened.
That’s when the Eshan decided to build a bridge for this locality. He gathered bamboo and built a make-shift bamboo bridge that connects Sathe Nagar to the PGMP Colony where the school is located.
The bridge is 100 feet long and 4 feet wide. And it can take weight of upto 50 people at a time.
Eshan’s work has changed the lives of kids living in Sathe Nagar. Eshan was nominated as a local hero by a Mumbai paper in 2015.
Eshan now hopes to build toilets in the area and help more citizens of Sathe Nagar. "The residents say that the Municipal Corporation is reluctant to construct toilets, since they are illegal residents. But they are humans and deserve basic sanitation facilities like the rest of us," he told Mumbai Mirror.
Undeterred in his pursuit to improve lives of those in need, Eshan plans to contribute more towards the society in coming years through his NGO - Nirbhay Yuva Pratishthan, where he encourages other youngsters to participate in similar philanthropic ventures.
