CHILD STAR
BY LAYLA SCHLACK Photography BY FIONA ABOUD
July 7, 2009
NAME
• AKASH MEHTA, 11
MISSION
• To raise money for children around the world.
At the tender age of eight, Akash organized a walkathon to drum up support for girls’ schools in Afghanistan. He raised $7,000 and started a foundation, Kids for a Better Future, which has supported former Congolese child soldiers and children suffering health effects from the deadly Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal, India. While volunteering there among children in the slums, Akash collected their stories for a children’s book, which he and his brother will edit over the summer.
MOTIVATION
• “I live a privileged life. Both my parents have houses, and I go to private school. I just feel like the world is giving so much to me, and I want to give something back.”
WHAT’S NEXT
• “There’s this thing called the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the U.S. is one of only two U.N. countries that hasn’t ratified it. President Obama said he would review it, so we need to make that happen.”
www.hemispheresmagazine.com/2009/07/01/child-star/