Wearing a raincoat and fighting the rains, 12
year old Maxim Manakova from Russia, planned to help the needy by donating rice
for the Rice Bucket Challenge in Goa. He donated three packets of rice to
people living on the streets in Margao and urged Goans to take on the
challenge.
Living in Colva in South Goa for the past six
years, Maxim has fallen in love with the place and its people. “I am a class
VII student of Vidya Vikas High School, Margao and I have made many friends
here. My father Vladmir knew about the Ice Bucket Challenge; but what really
interested me was the initiative of Manjulatha Kalanidhi, who created awareness
about the Rice Bucket Challenge in India,” says Maxim.
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Originally from Moscow, Russia, Maxim documents
the culture of Goa in different places and uploads these videos onto the
internet with the help of his father, so that his family and friends have a
better understanding of his life in Goa. “The videos are about interesting
places in Goa and I recently did a video on the Independence Day of India. For
the videos, I speak in English and Russian,” says Maxim who is also fluent in
Hindi. He sang the Indian national anthem and even translated it in Russian.
After completing the Rice Bucket Challenge, and
posting the video online, Maxim has passed on the challenge to Goa Chief
Minister Manohar Parrikar, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and Congress
Leader Sonia Gandhi. “I am still on my Ganesh vacations so my friends and
classmates don’t know about the challenge. I will know their reaction only when
I get back. But I would like them to do the same and help those in need with a bucket
of rice,” says Maxim.
Manjulatha Kalanidhi, the Hyderabad resident who
created the rice bucket challenge was one of the first people to comment on the
video. For her initiative, Manjulatha will be honoured with the Karmaveer
Chakra Award and the Rex Karmaveer Global Fellowship by iCONGO, an
international confederation of NGOs, and the United Nations.
