Talent can emerge anywhere. This summer, Sonarika and Shami (names changed), two children from our Children’s home, proved it by earning their place in the Maker’s Asylum Innovation Fellowship, a national programme bringing together young innovators from across India.
They were selected as makers based on their ideas, creativity and hard work, competing with talented young people from across the country. Their selection was a very proud moment for all of us at TARA!
Maker’s Asylum & the Fellowship
Maker’s Asylum is India’s first community makerspace, championing “learning by making”: hands-on education in design, electronics, 3D printing and digital fabrication, aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The Innovation Fellowship is its flagship programme for teenagers. Through scholarships, it opens the doors of the Innovation School to talented young people from underserved communities across India, ensuring that financial barriers do not stand in the way of creativity and opportunity. Fellows take part in online sessions before coming together for an immersive residential week in Goa, where they design and build prototypes addressing real social and environmental challenges.
Earning their place
Long before packing their bags, Sonarika and Shami had already put in weeks of work: sharing ideas, creating prototypes and testing their creativity to earn a place in the Fellowship. Their selection was a moment to celebrate at TARA.
Learning before building
Their journey began with a month of online sessions, where they explored design thinking, teamwork and digital fabrication tools such as 3D printing. Then, from 6 to 10 July, they travelled to Goa for an immersive residential fellowship, collaborating with young innovators from across the country.
For both of them, it was a world of firsts: a long train journey, days away from home, new faces and new places. Stepping into the unknown was not without its doubts.
“At first, I was scared,” Sonarika admits. “I kept thinking, ‘What if I don’t understand anything? What if everyone else is better than me?’ But once I got there, I became more comfortable, and with every new thing I learned, I became more confident.”
And there was a lot to learn. “What I enjoyed the most was learning to use power tools,” she says. “We were taught how to cut wood safely and use different machines to build our ideas. We learned how to use a 3D printer, Arduino IDE, and how to build prototypes from our ideas. We also explored GitHub, where innovators from around the world share their projects and designs.”
“During the fellowship, I learned soldering, coding, CAD, and 3D printing,” Shami remembers. “I also made 10 new friends from different places.”
Their journey began with a month of online sessions exploring design thinking, teamwork and digital fabrication tools such as 3D printing. Then, from 6 to 10 July, they travelled to Goa for an immersive residential fellowship, collaborating with young innovators from across the country.
For both of them, it was a world of firsts: a long train journey, days away from home, new faces and new places. “At first, I was scared,” one of them admits. “I kept thinking, ‘What if I don’t understand anything?’ But once I got there, I became more comfortable, and with every new thing I learned, I became more confident.”
Innovation With Purpose
Working in teams, the fellows transformed their ideas into real-world solutions.
At the end of the week, both teams proudly presented their projects during a YouTube livestream. Beyond the presentation itself, the Fellowship gave them access to Maker’s Asylum Fab Labs across India, fully equipped fabrication workshops where they can keep building their ideas, opening doors to continue creating and learning long after the programme ended.