Looking at the state of the world today, one can easily become discouraged. Yet I take the optimist's approach. My experience while a student at FIU gives me hope that the future will be in good hands so long as people with passion and love keep standing for their truth. Situations that often seem intractable can evolve.
Born in Venezuela of Indian parents, I have been driven to fight for women's rights and equality since the age of 12, when I visited the city of Ajmer in northern India and saw the stark oppression of women there. They lacked the most basic of human rights, among them education and freedom of expression. I have since made it my mission to work on their behalf.
During the summer between my sophomore and junior years, and with the financial support of FIU's Ruth and Glenn Hamilton Scholarship, I was able to serve as a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a public policy think tank in Washington, D.C., that helped expand my global perspective and taught me how to craft possible solutions to transnational problems. I had the chance to create a policy proposal that focuses on addressing domestic violence against women in South Asia. That work led to my dream internship at a human rights organization called Justice Revival, which aims to give a voice to marginalized communities within the United States.
These first steps have set me on a path through which I hope to inspire others. I want to cause a chain reaction that will produce positive change.
Prachi Lalwani is a senior international relations major. During the summer of 2022, she interned at Freedom House, a nonprofit organization in the nation's capital that conducts research on and advocates for democracy, political freedom and human rights worldwide.
Prachi Lalwani
