The New Indian Express ·
Backward to the Future
The tide decide almost everything on Sagar Island: when the ferry runs, when supplies arrive and when teachers can reach school. Fifteen years ago, they also determined where Sandra Lavie Gojkovic would begin a new life; in isolation from the mainland and deep inside conscience.
Gojkovic was Swiss, and arrived in India with just two shirts, two pairs of trousers and a one-way ticket to Delhi, leaving behind a well-paid career in Dubai, a high-rise apartment in Switzerland and a life of travel and privilege. When she reached Sagar Island, a low-lying delta island in the Bay of Bengal accessible only by boat, she encountered a community where children had littl access to meaningful education. “I saw communities largely left on their own,” she says. “It became quite clear I wanted to work with them.”
In 2012, Gojkovic opened a school in a rented, half-finished government building. Sixty children enrolled in its first year itself. She hired local teachers and personally covered the initial costs, for renovations and salaries to a daily vegetarian meal for every child.
