Sahitya (Sahi) Hari, a senior at High School South, has published a book of poetry to raise funds for Sevalaya, a non-profit orphanage in Kasuva, a suburban village 40 miles from Chennai, India. The organization helps poor children get the education they need and also provides old people with care.
Hari visited the institution in 2010 and was moved to see how well Sevalaya is being maintained with a recently installed library with hundreds of books and computers that students could access. “I interacted with the kids and saw the fire in them to learn and excel not only in education but in all aspects of life,” she says. Hari felt that she could make a difference in their life and began teaching English weekly via webcam and was excited to see a significant progress in their learning ability and applying the skills in real life such as spoken English and reading.
She wanted to sponsor a few elementary kids for their full education, clothing, boarding, and lodging through writing, publishing, and selling a poetry book. To raise funds she worked as a teacher’s assistant at Ivy Learning Center, West Windsor. The culmination of her attempt is her poetry collection “Reckless” — now available in online stores such as Amazon, Google, and Barnes and Noble under the pen name “Sahi Hari.”
“This year I went to India to meet the children that I’ve video conferenced with, give the felicitations speech, released my poetry book, and announced that all the proceeds go to Sevalaya for my students’ education,” she says.
A Plainsboro resident, Hari was born in Chennai, India, and lived there for a year before leaving for England, and then the United States. She visited India in 2005 to meet her family that she had not seen in six years. In 2010 she went to India for her classical Indian dance graduation performance. “That was when I came to know of Sevalaya,” she says.
An EMT with Plainsboro Rescue Squad for two years, she has raised funds for Haiti earthquake victims, Chinmaya Mission, and Katrina relief through classical Indian dance. She has studied Bharatnatyam with Ntrithyanjali Institute of Dance since third grade. She also studies classical Indian vocal music (Carnatic music) for more than seven years and participated in many competitions.
At South she plays the viola in the Philharmonia Orchestra, is a member of the Varsity Fencing team, is in National Honor Society and in National Society of High School Scholars.
Her father, Hariram C Hari, is president and founder of Fortidm Technologies, where he directs various IT programs and contracts for their clients such as New York City, New York State, and Federal government agencies. A NJ state certified volunteer EMT, he is a member of Plainsboro Rescue Squad’s board of trustees.
Her mother, Vijayalakshmi Hari, is the CFO for Fortidm Technologies where she manages the financial and administrative aspects of the company.
