Shri Om dutta Sharma did not find the streets of New York Paved with gold when he arrived there in 1977.  but he did find, that as a New York taxi driver, he was able to earn enough to raise his family and put a little aside each week to share with those back home who were not as fortunate as he was.

Mr. Sharma’s savings bore fruit in 1997 when he founded a school for girls in his native village Doobher Kisanpur, a tiny, poor farming village outside of New Delhi, without even a telephone.  The school now offers free education to 410 girls up to the 8^th grade, and plans for the near future inclue an expansion of the space for classes up to the 11^th grade.

Mr Sharma’s school for girls touched the hearts of people all over the world.  He received honorary doctorates from various institutions including Mount Holyoke and Columbia Universities.  For his efforts to advance the educational opportunities of girls, the New York Times ran a 2-page article on his school; PBS and BBC aired his story; he was on the cover of Time Kids magazine; he was featured in People magazine, and in numerous other magazines around the world.

They were inspired by the fact that here was an individual on a modest working man’s wage doing something to change the world in a very practical way.  For more then 20 years, Mr. sharma has barreled through the streets of Manhattan in a yellow cab, saving his crumpled tips, never taking his wife out to eat, scrimpling on new clothes for his sons, to make his acts of goodness possible.

Encouraged by the support, Mr. Sharma was able to continue and expand his remarkable project, including adult education for women in a neighboring viallage.