Uma was just 11 years old when she participated in a District Level Science Festival held at a school in Kumta. She conducted a science experiment representing her school at the festival. According to this young aspirant, due to regular intake of meals at school, she is now able to concentrate on studies and gather strength and confidence to compete in various contests.

Realising the importance of The Akshaya Patra mid-day meal programme, Uma says that she is highly grateful towards the foundation. Uma goes to Government Higher Primary School, Ingalagi in Bellary. Her parents work at a farm situated at some 20 km from her house. Her parents leave home in the wee hours of morning and she has to make sure that her two younger siblings get ready and attend school every day along with her. There is no food at home since her parents return from work late in the evening. Her younger sister is in standard IV and younger brother is in standard VI.

Acknowledging the fact the she is eldest of her siblings, Uma says she wants to become a teacher and help children from economically challenged sections of the society. As an older sister, she also wishes to support her siblings in achieving success educationally. "Science is my favourite subject since it has a lot of experiments. When I grow up, I want to become a teacher and help students understand subjects just the way my teacher helps me. I love to do experiments. I had not realised this since I started doing them myself at school. Moreover, ever since I started eating the food provided by Akshaya Patra, I feel healthy and am able to memorise difficult concepts with ease," says Uma.

Her teacher, Kanyakumari says, "Akshaya Patra has been providing mid-day meals to our school since 2007. There has been a remarkable improvement in the health of most students here, ever since. As for Uma, earlier she had stage fright due to which she would find difficulty in expressing herself. But now, due to the nutritious mid-day meal provided here, her concentration and grasping power has increased significantly."

The Bellary kitchen, fifth unit of The Akshaya Patra Foundation in Karnataka, was set up in July 2006. An ISO 22000:2005 certified culinary unit, this kitchen feeds 1,15,945 government school children as of today. Uma Maheshwari is one of them. When we feed children, we not only curb their hunger, but also feed their thoughts and encourage them to dream big.