Solve Ninja Diaries: Meet Action Ant Keerthi
By: Reap Benefit
Tags: Solve Ninja, Civic Engagement, 21st Century Skills, Student Civic Action, Problem Solving

Solve Ninja Diaries takes an in-depth look at the problem solving journey of the young community leaders we work with. This month, Reap Benefit Mentor Vinod Raj Urs caught up with his mentee Keerthi L, who is currently pursuing her 1st PU at the Government College in Malleshwaram, Bengaluru.

Action Ants tackle problems through dynamically combining actions of reporting, campaigning and building solutions.

A snapshot of Keerthi’s problem solving journey

Keerthi has been a Solve Ninja for the past 3 years and was introduced to Reap Benefit when she was a 9th standard student at GHS Rajajinagar 2nd block school.

Kerthi remembers her very first boot camp which was conducted at Reap Benefit’s Jayanagar office in Bengaluru.

“I was very nervous before the session because I had never attended such a program before,” Keerthi recalls. However, her apprehension soon turned into excitement once the activities kicked off! “The other Solve Ninjas, the caring mentors, the food, fun, and group activities — everything was so wonderful!”

Keerthi says she felt at home in the relaxed environment created by the mentors and found their way of teaching public problem solving engaging.

Those fluent and more comfortable in Kannada can listen to Keerthi’s answers in the video above.

“We were all divided into groups and each group had to take on a particular problem. My group was called ‘dolphin’ and we had to solve water-related problems, so we worked on and solved water wastage issues.”

The boot camp was Keerthi’s first brush with public problem solving and put her on the path to taking up problem solving in her school.

“My first wow moment was when I solved a problem at school for the first time.”

Poorly maintained bathrooms and lack of sanitation were issues that Keerthi and many of her classmates faced on a daily basis at school, so Keerthi decided to work on making the toilets useable and hygienic.

“When I started working on the discovery phase of DISS (Reap Benefit’s problem solving technique DISS stands for Discover-Investigate-Solve-Share) no one supported me. Many of my teachers told me to focus on my studies.” This didn’t deter Keerthi and she started working on the problem alone. She slowly began to reach out to her junior classmates for support.

“I managed to build a team of 20 girls from grades 8 and 9 to work on the sanitation issues at school.”

In the investigation phase Keerthi and her schoolmates found infrastructural issues such as broken doors, lack of water accessibility, and foul-smelling toilets.

Keerthi gathered her volunteers to report this to the school authorities and realised that budget constraints were the cause for these issues not being fixed. They took to crowdsourcing as a solution.

“So we set to work on crowdsourcing resources to temporarily fix the infrastructural issues with DIY solutions. We collected some resources like latches, locks, paint and cleaning materials through the Bootcamp program.”

Immediately after these were in place, Keerthi and her team shared their reports and solutions to the BEO (Block Educational Officer)and requested long-term fixes. Through their efforts, 5 toilets were completely revamped.

Keerthi has also organised sanitation awareness workshops and rallies that were attended by 250 students.

“Vinod Sir supported us and mentored us from start till the problem was resolved.”

In the here and now

What community problems have Keerthi’s attention now?

“Near Brindavan stop there were no street lights for a one kilometer stretch. Residents were facing difficulty to reach their home at night time. I decided to solve this issue by contacting BESSCOM and was directed to reach out to the BBMP regarding the specific problem.”

Keerthi’s complaint and reporting of the issue lead to new lights being fixed.

The Solve Ninja feels that all youth should join the community because their learnings lead them to becoming responsible citizens.

“At Reap Benefit you get an understanding of the real reasons behind problems — the why, what and how — and how you can start working towards solving those problems. By engaging with Reap Benefit you will activate your skills day by day.”

Keerthi feels that the major 21st century skill she has activated through public problem solving is communication.

Looking back

Keerthi says that her first ever Summer boot camp and the workshop on product design were her favourite Solve Ninja moments.

“There were obstacles in the beginning. Teachers discouraged me saying don’t waste your time on public problem solving, you’re getting low marks in studies. Instead go and work on your education. Even at home everyone was scolding me. Even my mother questioned me and asked why are you showing interest in such problems, what you will get out it?” Keerthi remembers.

“I told my mother if everyone says this who will solve the problems? By solving the problems I will feel satisfied, proud and happy so I will continue to solve local problems.”

If you want to start your problem solving journey today then WhatsApp ‘Hi’ to the Solve Ninja Chatbot on +91 95136 07460 now.