Hyderabad girl talks about receiving the Queen's Young Leaders Award
Neha Swain from Hyderabad is one of the two Indians among 60 who were selected for the Queen’s Young Leaders Award.
The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust presents the award recognising young people from across the 53 Commonwealth nations who are taking a lead in transforming the lives of others and making a lasting difference in their communities.
Neha, youth facilitator and co-founder of Rubaroo, says, “I got to meet so many young people doing different kinds of work from many countries. The community wants us to believe that we young people are the future leaders, who will take up leadership roles in our countries.”
As part of the award, Neha will also be provided with a mentor and a year-long online course from the University of Cambridge. The group also went to the University to meet and interact with the people behind the curriculum.
“We had a chance to go to 10 Downing Street, to the British Prime Minister’s office, to meet various ministers and know what they expected of us.”
Neha was also happy to be appreciated by the Queen. “I was overwhelmed to get the award. Queen Elizabeth spoke to each and everyone while giving the award. She asked me about the kind of work I was doing, so I got a chance to speak about Rubaroo and she appreciated the organisation,” she says adding, “It was overwhelming for us to see all the superstars at the same time — The Queen, Prince Harry, David Beckham, Kumar Sangakkara and High Commissioners from many countries, among others. It was amazing that everyone had read up about us before the meeting. Before we could introduce ourselves, they would say that they knew us. So that was overwhelming.”
Elaborating on Rubaroo, Neha says, “My co-founder Monisha Vemavarapu and I started Rubaroo in July, 2013. We also have a third co-founder, Hema Khatri.
Co-founders of Rubaroo, Monisha Vemavarapu, Neha Swain and Hema Khatri
Our main purpose is to create inclusive spaces. We primarily work with young people, and people who influence young people, for example, parents, teachers, etc.”
Adds Monisha, “We create learning spaces — they can be workshops, exposures, three-hour long campaigns — where people go into a community and understand the community better. In the last three years, we have worked with around 3,000 people, from children in the Old City to schools in Hitec City, with a host of teachers and also youngsters from various colleges.”
