When Family Stepped Into the Mission
On 10 December 2014, Lakshya Foundation returned to Nambarwadi, continuing its close observation of the village and its educational institutions.
This visit carried a quieter, more personal significance.
Joining the Lakshya Foundation team were Indu Aaji and Suman Aaji, the mother and maternal aunt of Chief Trustee Shri Shirish Patil.
Their presence brought a deeply personal dimension to the Foundation’s work.
Entering Nambarwadi
Nambarwadi was already familiar to Lakshya Foundation.
The village’s remoteness, lack of electricity, limited transportation, and poor educational infrastructure had increasingly convinced the Foundation that this was a community where intervention could make a meaningful difference.
The visit therefore continued the process of understanding the village before committing resources to its transformation.
At the centre of that effort was the Nambarwadi Aanganwadi.
Aaji Meets the Children
Indu Aaji and Suman Aaji visited the Aanganwadi, where they spent time observing the children and the learning environment.
For them, this was not simply another Foundation activity.
It was an opportunity to see, first-hand, the conditions in which children in a remote tribal village were beginning their educational journey.
The photographs from the day capture their presence inside the Aanganwadi—two members of Shirish Patil’s family stepping into a space that Lakshya Foundation was increasingly determined to improve.
Their visit reflected something important about the Foundation’s journey:
The work was becoming personal.
The challenges of these children were no longer distant statistics or observations from a survey.
They were faces, classrooms, and real places that members of the Foundation’s extended family could now see for themselves.
Beyond a Single Building
By December 2014, Lakshya Foundation was already looking beyond individual activities.
The Foundation had surveyed 27 tribal schools and communities, all requiring varying degrees of attention.
The question was no longer whether something needed to be done.
The question was:
Where should we begin?
With limited resources, the Foundation knew it could not transform all 27 schools simultaneously.
One village would have to become the first stepping stone toward a much larger Phase 2.
Nambarwadi was increasingly becoming that choice.
A Personal Reminder of Responsibility
The presence of Indu Aaji and Suman Aaji made the visit particularly meaningful.
They witnessed the reality of a village where children were growing up with limited access to basic educational infrastructure.
For Lakshya Foundation, such visits reinforced the responsibility behind its work.
The Foundation was not merely trying to build better buildings.
It was trying to create conditions in which children could enter education, remain in education, and eventually see education as a normal part of life.
A Quiet Step Toward Transformation
There was no formal project launch on 10 December 2014.
There was no announcement of construction.
But the visit mattered because the Foundation continued to return.
It continued to observe.
It continued to document.
And it continued to build the conviction that Nambarwadi could become the first major intervention of Phase 2.
Sometimes commitment is visible not in what is built, but in how often we return before we are able to build.
