Imagine a young life on the streets, scavenging garbage dumps and looking for something to eat or sell or wear, with no future beyond the next meal, the next place to lay a tired head. Consider the unspeakable, horrifying acts that befall children who have no one watching out for them. Children are living this life, in challenging and compromised conditions, every day, worldwide.

I was born in India in the town of Dehra Dun. My mother died during childbirth, and it was soon clear that my father, suddenly an unprepared single parent, would not be able to care for me. For a period of time, there existed a scenario in which I could have been one of those children on the street. I could have grown up, like the millions of children who are out there still, in harm’s way, with no support system, no education, and little chance for a bright future. Among the fortunate few, however, I was adopted by a family who gave me a safe home, an education, and a chance to live a healthy and free and productive life.

For as far back as I can remember, I saw poverty all around me and I saw the effects of poverty. I saw small children, alone and unsupervised, who were roaming the streets, sleeping on sidewalks, hungry, and without proper clothes and shoes. Families were living in tents and searching through trash bins for food. They had no coats when it was cold and no cool, fresh water for drinking or bathing when it was hot.

Every day, those same impoverished children would be in the same places doing absolutely nothing with their young lives. I knew they weren’t in school, like I was, but I didn’t know why. I was too young to make the connection between education and poverty. They were coming from a world where education played no part in their lives, or their parents’ lives, or those of their parents’ parents.

I could have been one of those children begging for food for the rest of my days, but my life was turned around with a family, a support system, and the gift of education. Though I have grown up and now live in the United States, raising my own beautiful family, those images of the children on the streets of India have never left my thoughts or my heart. It is my life’s mission to help as many children as I can, worldwide, get a fair chance in life and receive the education they deserve. On their behalf, Yours Humanly took flight.

I am an advocate for all children everywhere and the work we do on behalf of children in need is my way of giving back.

I have come to realize that life is often the luck of the draw. Are you born into a family that can provide for its children? Or are you born into an impoverished family that can little afford to feed and clothe its children, much less send them to school? It is clear that when parents who are not educated are not educating their children, the cycle of poverty continues for generations. And we have a world of privileged and underprivileged.

An education gives children a chance in life. An education gives children opportunities. An education gives children pathways to better, brighter futures. An education breaks the cycle of poverty.

And education doesn’t just break the cycle of poverty for one person. It breaks the cycle of poverty for entire families and communities and future generations. We make things possible for children when we provide them an education and a positive educational experience. There’s absolutely no question. I’m a living example of that.

Education is the difference between me being on the streets versus me being here today, sharing my story and engaging others to join me in this mission to educate vulnerable and disadvantaged children so they too can have a chance in life.

This isn’t a hand out—this is a hand up. And, you never know—the children we help may do the same for others. They may change a life because theirs was changed with the gift of schooling.