SMART J O BS
Laxmi Parathasarathay teaches young people in a once-downtrodden Scarborough district to celebrate their community’s achievements and aim for the stars.
Jenny Ford I
n a remote community in Rwanda, a bus pulls up to a crowd of hundreds. Te crowd’s
excitement is infectious, chanting “Urunana! Urunana!” over and over. On that bus, says 22-year- old Laxmi Parathasarathay, are the stars of a hugely popular Rwandan radio soap opera called Urunana (hand in hand), where the characters’ lives deal with the social and health issues many Rwan- dans face each day. “I f you ment ion the name Urunana to anyone
in Rwanda they get so ex- cited,” says Laxmi. “The program talks about basic messages you think would be common sense, but for some people these messages
are crucial.” Laxmi spent two months interning with Urunana De- velopment Communication in the summer of 2009 in Ki- gali, Rwanda, at the centre of
Africa. Te internship was part of a program through Carleton University in Ottawa called the Rwanda Initiative. Te internship only fuelled Laxmi ’s fascination with communica- tion as a means of development af- fect ing social
16 SMART careers | Early Spring 2011
change and public understanding. Laxmi came to national attention in 2008 when, still a Carleton
student, she was named one of Youth in Motion’s Top 20 under 20 for founding a newspaper in her community that inspires young people to succeed. Te honour is given each year to 20 young Canadian students who have shown innovative leadership, along with communication and life skills in working to better their own neighbourhoods. She received a $5,000 bursary and was paired with Toronto Star board chairman John Honderich as a mentor. For almost five years, Laxmi has been working in her commu-
nity to try to create social change through her newspaper MY ROOTS (Malvern Youth Recognizing Our Opportunities To Succeed). Her home neighbourhood of Malvern, an area of Scarborough,
outside Toronto, was plagued with gang violence in the 1990s and Laxmi was unsettled by the community’s image in the media. “Since that time, Malvern has transformed so greatly but we haven’t received that recognition,” she says. Laxmi wanted to celebrate her community’s achievements and show young people that good news can come out of their neighbourhood. She decided to found the quarterly newspaper to profile youth
and their accomplishments, people making a difference in Mal- vern, and local news. Te newspaper also puts on writing work- shops, talent shows and other events to inspire young people in the community to succeed and grow in their career aspirations. “We’re letting people know it’s possible to do things that are
outside the box even if you’re from our community,” she says. “Tere are so many people from here who have gone on to do brilliant things and there are many people who stay in the com- munity for years and do a wonderful job of engaging youth and changing people’s perceptions of the community,” she says. One student featured in the newspaper founded his own film-
making company when he was only in grade 11. Another story introduced a girl who started her own dance studio. “It’s impor- tant that people within the community don’t feel disadvantaged to be from this particular area of Toronto.” Trough her Carleton years, Laxmi continued to work as MY
ROOTS editor-in-chief with four staffers and many community writers to bring out each issue of the newspaper. Te paper is
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