Hyderabad girl from slum becomes British Dy High Commissioner for a Day
Hyderabad: Aripina Jayalaxmi, a social activist raised in a family of waste collectors in Hyderabad, served as the British Deputy High Commissioner to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for a day.
To celebrate the International Day of the Girl Child, the British Deputy High Commission conducted a ‘High Commissioner for a Day’ competition. The competition is organized every year at the UK's diplomatic missions in New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai too. The selected candidate is given an opportunity to live the life of a diplomat for a day at the High Commission.
This year, Jaya was picked among scores of candidates to hold the office of the British Deputy High Commission for a day on November 25. As a deputy High commissioner for the day, Jaya met and interacted with the officials and representatives of various organizations.
- She met with Snehaja Jonnalagadda, the Regional Passport Officer, and learned about her career as a senior IFS officer in the Ministry of External Affairs.
- Jaya interacted with the founders and the bright on-ground team of My Choices Foundation on ways to address the gender-based violence in the society.
- She discussed innovation and challenges with wonderful women start-up founders and student founders at WE-Hub over lunch.
Jaya, a degree student, is currently focussing on the education of 30 children from her community. She lives in Singareni colony slum in Saidabad. She has been raising the issues of slums through children’s “parliament.” In recognition of her work, she was selected as the Prime Minister of the Provisional World Children’s Parliament.
She also advocates for equality in health, education and gender. She aspires to become an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer.