CreativeLive CEO Chase Jarvis loves to talk about creativity is going to save the world. In his keynote at SXSW, Chase noted that “creativity is actually the thing that solves all problems,” including multiple humanitarian crises, like the lack of access to clean drinking water in third-world nations. Now, an NGO called Aarambh is proving his point — they’ve found an inexpensive, creative solution to one of the biggest issues facing school children in India: A lack of desks.
Created as a service center “for marginalized families in urban slum and rural areas,” Aarambh pinpointed two very specific, but related issues impeding the education of underprivileged kids.
“Most schools in Indian rural areas have two basic problems,” Aarmbh explains “1) The schools didn’t have proper desks, which led to poor eyesight and a hunched back leading to bad posture and bad writing. 2) The students didn’t have bags…We came up with a solution which tackled both these problems at one go.”
The lack of desks, Aarambh says, not only made it difficult for students to sit in a comfortable way to work, but also created eye-strain and myriad other health problems.
The solution, called Help Desk, is made of recycled cardboard boxes, which fold into both a desk and a bag. The boxes are recycled, which means the solution to the problem also helps another problem by cutting down waste.
Watch the full video to see how their creation works — then ask yourself: What can I create that can help someone?
