Wishesh magazine january 2018 Wishesh magazine january 2018 | Page 83

Lakhani runs a non-profit
organization which recycles
discarded bars of soap from
hotels across Cambodia.
They then distribute the soaps
to villages which are in need
of these essential items. From
2014, as a college student,
Lakhani first traveled to
Cambodia where he observed
that this bar of soap was a
much sought after luxury
for people of Cambodia and
which they can not afford.
“I remember quite vividly a
mother bathing her newborn
in a basin filled with laundry
powder and water. It is an
image I’ll never get out of
my mind,” Lakhani stated.
She was still studying at the
University of Pittsburgh when
he started the Eco-soap
Bank.
out of landfills, employing
locals and spreading soap all
over the country,” he added.
While on the other hand Mona
Patel’s non-profit organization
aims to help amputees rebuild
their lives. Her organization
offers peer support, resources
and recreational activities
for handicapped. From her
experiences, she began this
organization. More than 15
years ago, she was hit by a
drunken driver while walking
to attend a class at Cal Poly
University in San Luis Obispo,
California. “I flew up about 12
feet,” Patel said. “And then he
pinned me between his car
and a metal railing, and that’s
what smashed my leg and my
foot.” Patel’s body, and future,
were forever changed.
This organization has now
grown upto four recycling
centers all across the
US. This not just works in
providing soaps but also is a
great employer with jobs to
over 35 local women. First
they gather used soap bars
and then they are sanitized
and remolded into new bars
by melting down into liquid
soap first. But this did not deter her
determination, and when
Patel got out of the ICU,
she underwent her first
amputation. She had the
challenging seven years
of surgeries in attempts to
salvage the remaining part of
her leg. Her strong will po