Stories of Change

Poverty tells children they have no future. Creativity tells them they have infinite potential.

Karthi: How Photography Changes LIves

Kalaivani: A Family on the Edge

Karuppasamy: From First Click to Future Leader

From First Click to Future Leader

Every child should have the chance to reach their full potential. But in a quiet village in Tamil Nadu, a teenage boy, Karuppasamy saw no such path.

When a free summer computer course came to his village in Tamil Nadu, he was just a teenager — curious, a little shy, and like everyone else around him, completely unfamiliar with technology.

No one in the community had seen a working computer before. The local school had a few, but they were locked away. Even the teachers didn’t know how to use them. But he signed up. Every day for three months, he showed up. He learned how to type, how to search, how to build something new with a screen in front of him.

More than skills, it gave him something deeper — possibility.

“It gave me the courage to see beyond my situation.”

He started believing he could have a future. That maybe he could lead something. That maybe he was worth something.

His facilitator, Michael, believed it too. He encouraged him, stayed after hours when needed — and years later, even came with him when he nervously went to meet his future wife’s family.

“Michael supported me like family. Not just with learning — with life.”

Today, Karuppasamy works in the insurance sector. He takes part in international Zoom meetings. He’s confident, skilled, and grounded.

When he visited the centre again, he walked into a back room and spotted something familiar, now covered in dust.

“Monitor 3,” he said, smiling. “That’s where it all began.”

The ripple effect continues. Children from the summer camp came to our Hub, and went on to teach their own school teachers how to use computers. What started as a summer course quietly became a community-wide shift. Every child deserves that first click — and someone who believes in them.

Give the gift of a Summer Learning Camp for a child like Karuppasamy today.

Strength to Hope

A Family on the Edge, and the Strength to Hope Again

Three years ago, tragedy struck without warning.

Shanmuga lost her husband to a sudden, traumatic death. He was just 33. Left behind were their two daughters — Kalaivani, 11, and Ponselvi, just 6 — and Shanmuga herself, a Deaf woman dismissed by society as “deaf and dumb.”

They broke down as they told us about him, and we stopped filming. Grief was only part of the storm.

With no income, the family rely solely on the girls’ grandmother, a quiet but fierce woman, who takes up whatever jobs she can find — construction, agriculture, brick-hauling — often tasks reserved for men.

They are surviving day to day. A shady man on a motorbike arrived when we met them. He regularly collects high-interest loan repayments. Life must feel like it is closing in.

And yet — there is extraordinary potential in this family.

When the Creative Learning Hub began in their village a few months ago, things began to shift.

Shanmuga, once silent and dismissed, began learning to read. Then, to speak. Slowly, she's emerged from the shadows of household chores — and begun dancing. When the village festival came around, she not only attended — she performed!

Her daughters have found a new rhythm too. Kalaivani, who once shouldered the weight of her mother's silence and her father's absence, began to draw, create, and smile again.

And their grandmother? She has never missed a single parent collective at our Hub. Even when it means losing a day’s wages, she shows up — because, as she said to me through tears:

“What will happen to them when I’m gone?”

That question haunts many families living on the margins. But through creative learning, emotional support, and committed local facilitators, Paper Boat's partners on the ground are working to build safe, connected, caring communities where children can rise — and where no mother or grandmother has to carry the fear of the future alone.

Because education isn’t enough. Children need courage, creativity, and care. They need to belong. And they need the adults around them to be seen and supported too.

Give the gift of an Family Survival Pack for a family like Kalaivani's today.

Karthi's Story

My name is Karthi, and I am the Creative Lead in Photography at the Children's Hubs.

Growing up, my life felt very small. In my village, there was no talk of education—only the cotton mills or the sugar factories.

The community tells you that you are a "small person" and you must do what you are told. Success meant being the "big guy" in a gang, drinking and feeling disappointed. I bunked off school because I couldn't see a future there.

Everything changed when I joined the youth program that Paper Boat's local partner runs. I’ll be honest: I didn’t come there to study. But then I discovered photography, and it changed my whole attitude toward learning.

"My life was so small. Now, after coming to the Children's Hub, I can see the whole world."

I eventually earned a film diploma on a scholarship, but the real shift was internal. I chose to stay in Madurai because, in my hometown, people don't yet understand that a subject like photography can be a career. They don't see that you can go out and do something good with your life.

Art—whether it’s photography, drama, or painting—is often kept away from children like me. It is often taught where only certain people are given the chance to learn. At the Hubs, we give that chance to the children society excludes.

When these children come to me, I see myself at the same age. I know their struggle because it was mine.

Now, I have the freedom to teach them and help them realise their own potential.

I am teaching myself the hard process of filmmaking because I want to tell stories that bring change. I want to make sure the next generation doesn't have to stay "small."

By supporting Paper Boat, you help us provide the opportunities and the "hope" that Karthi now shares with the children of Madurai.

Give the gift of a Summer Learning Camp for a child today.