Meet the Kolkata teacher who transformed children’s lives in the Sundarbans with a dream

In 2012, a Kolkata schoolteacher named Satarupa Majumder made a trip to the Sundarbans that would change the course of her life. What started as a small act of charity turned into a mission that has since brought quality, almost-free English-medium education to hundreds of children living on some of India's most remote and cyclone-prone islands.A chance visit that sparked a dreamSatarupa's journey began almost by accident. Her aunt, visiting from abroad, wanted to donate a sewing machine to help a community of women in the Sundarbans learn a new skill. Satarupa offered her late grandmother's old machine and accompanied her aunt on the long journey to Katakhali village in Hingalganj, an island near the Indo-Bangladesh border on the Ichamati River.The village was home to families of beedi rollers, fishermen, and daily-wage laborers, where survival took precedence over schooling.