Twelve-year-old Sonali from Shergarh village in Doiwala block, Dehradun, Uttrakhand, once struggled with the fear of speaking up in class, even when she knew the right answers. Her turning point came during a workshop conducted under DC’s Abhyuday program, which focuses on building emotional resilience and confidence among school children.

When the Project Sampushti team first met Sameer Kumar during a routine screening in his village in Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh, the three-and-a-half-year-old was shy, quiet, and visibly underweight. His parents, Rakesh Kumar and Geeta Devi, are farmers with no formal education. They cared deeply for their son but had little knowledge of what a balanced diet actually looked like.

Priya, a young adolescent from Balamau district, Hardoi, struggled with persistent vision problems. She experienced double vision, making everyday tasks difficult and affecting her studies. Despite sharing her concerns with her mother, the issue was initially dismissed, assumed to be temporary. However, as time passed, her condition worsened—she found it hard to focus in class and even misjudged objects while walking, narrowly avoiding accidents on multiple occasions.

Aryan, a child aged 2 years and 11 months, living in a small village in Gram Panchayat Som, Block Sandila (Hardoi district), Uttar Pradesh, was found to be severely malnourished during a screening organized under Sampushti’s Malnutrition-Free Gram Panchayat program, a program that focuses on children from 6 months to 5 years. Aryan's father is a daily wage laborer while his mother is a homemaker.

Mamta Devi, a Class 12 student from Janta Inter College in Kachhauna block, Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh, had grown used to feeling exhausted. She would often miss school because of dizziness and frequent bouts of fever. At home in Matua village, her family didn’t think much of it. Her father, a government school teacher, and her mother, a homemaker, believed her weakness was simply because of exam stress or irregular eating.

Ridhima Jain and Lkisha Barnwal, members of the TeenBook Advisory Board (TAB), represented Indian adolescents at the PMNCH Global Forum for Adolescents 2023, hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO). Their participation highlighted the growing influence of youth-driven initiatives like TeenBook.

Mehek, a 13-year-old high school student from JVB Balamau, Hardoi, comes from a modest background. Her father, a street vendor, works hard to support the family, while her mother manages household responsibilities. Despite their struggles, Mehek was determined to continue her education. However, frequent stomach pain, dizziness, and extreme anxiety made everyday life difficult.

Preeti, a 12-year-old student of Class 7 at Kasturba Gandhi Residential Girls’ School, Kachhauna, belongs to a farming family. Her father works in the fields, while her mother manages the household

Saadhna Foujdar is a prime example of wanting to achieve an education for good. The eldest of four siblings from Alwar, Rajasthan, Saadhna took on immense responsibility after her father’s passing. Determined to support her family, she enrolled in the Auxiliary Nurse and Midwife (ANM) program offered by the Rajasthan government. However, the financial strain of her education threatened to derail her aspirations.