ANANTAPUR: In another case of NRIs trying to do their bit to improve the lot of their brethren back home, a young girl has collected money to build schools for autistic children in Anantapur. Moreover, Sharwani chose a unique way to collect funds. Instead of seeking donations, she with a group of other teenaged girls, opted for flash mobs in the US. Accordingly, within a short span of seven months, the 8th standard collected over Rs 37 lakh.

Her mother Madhavi hails from Tapovanam in Anantapur district while her father Narsimham is from Vijayawada. The parents are now settled in the US for over last three decades. It was during one of their visits to Anantapur that she came in contact with a school run by an NGO for autistic children. She was so influenced by the work done by the NGO that she too decided to set up a similar organisation.

With the encouragement of her parents, she founded ‘Hope 4Spandanaa’, an NGO which will work for betterment of autistic children in New Jersey. The NGO, started with a goal to spread awareness regarding autism, is affiliated to Saint Peter's University Hospital and Autism Speaks. Currently, the organisation is supporting 72 autistic children by providing them shelter, provisions and therapy.

“We want to help as much as possible to create awareness regarding autism,” said Sharwani. “Efforts should be done to educate children affected by autism and integrate them with the mainstream. They should be made employable,” she said. Now, the girl with her parents is back in Anantapur to put the collected funds to proper use. “The amount will be spent on constructing three schools in Anantapur,” her father Narsimham Kota said.