#ChangemakerSpeak: Lisa Heydlauff

As part of our change-maker series, we catch up with Lisa Heydlauff, Founder & Director of Going to School Fund. Platinum certified for transparency by GuideStar India, Going to School focuses on design-driven learning to teach children entrepreneurial skills at school.

What inspired you to set up Going to School? Why is the cause so close to your heart?

I grew up going to many different schools around the world and was always asked ‘What is it like to go to school where you go to school?’ This was before the internet. So I tried to describe how it was the same but also different. A decade later my first job was as a teacher in London and a little boy in my class, Oliver, who was seven then, asked me the same question about India: ‘What is it like to go to school in India?’ I promised Oliver that one day I’d find out.  

Can you recall an act of giving that you did/experienced or witnessed that changed your life? Do tell us about it.

Most recently, four puppies were left on the beach. Ana Banana was dragging her back legs, and without thinking much about it, with a friend, we picked her up and took her to the vet. They said she was not well. When I was asked “Are you putting her back on the street?” - that’s how we became four, along with Isadora and Viola – my other rescues dogs. It’s always at my lowest that a new puppy arrives, the giving – if we can call it – that is always unintended. It’s more like a desperation to be able to do something good when everything else feels so out of control. Giving is about the ability to do something about it, whatever it is, if you can – you should, you must.

Is there somebody (living or dead) whose giving/philanthropy you admire? Why?

Ritu Dalmia, she does so much. 

Do you have a motto or mantra, or even a quote that you live by? 

‘You are beginning to believe in possibility, you are beginning to change even what you want.’ It’s from a book of poetry called Red Tools by Stephanie Marlis. She’s a waitress and poet. I probably don’t live my life that way at all, I get stuck with ideas and projects, fall in love with them and see them through to my own detriment. If I was more like this quote I’d be able to love an idea and be so very open, to be able to change and adapt without holding on quite so tight.

In a perfect world, what dream do you want Going To School to accomplish in the next five years, and what kind of a future would you like it to be part of?

I’d like to sail away in a pea-green boat with three rescue street dogs. The boat is called The Children’s Scrappy News Service, and it’s our new original children’s edutainment format for TV, mobile/digital and on the ground in schools. It’s what I hope can connect kids around the world to solve problems they want to solve and give them the skills and a platform to do so. A way to change everything offline, online, at school, or wherever you might be.

The Children's Scrappy News Service, a Going to School initiative