Rakesh is a former student of the RDT Professional School of Foreign Languages; he has been living in Mexico for 6 years and remembers his childhood moments with nostalgia. This story is about pursuing his dream to go on an international trip and the hard work he put into achieving it.

Rakesh can’t help but smile when he remembers his childhood. He grew up in Anantapur, playing and playing mischief with his friends until the sunset.  When Rakesh was a young boy and met a group of visitors coming to the Rural Development Trust to visit its projects, one thing particularly piqued his curiosity: the language. “Most of them came from Spain. When I heard them talking, I thought: What language is this? Why do they speak this way? What do they mean? And at that moment, my interest turned into a dream,” he says in perfectly polished Spanish.

Rakesh considers himself a down-to-earth person. However, he had one big aspiration: to take off. He dreamt of taking an international flight, an ambition he always repeated to himself. “RDT gave me the opportunity to join the Professional School. I started working hard from day one so that I could learn everything they wanted to teach me”. When Rakesh registered for the course, he was speaking broken English and hardly had any knowledge of Spanish. “A lot of effort, a lot of patience; a lot of effort, a lot of patience,” he repeats, with a smile on his face.

The Professional School is holistic. Apart from learning different languages, the students also receive training in accounting, IT and life skills. “Do you know what I liked the most?” he asks, “that this course gave you the tools to get a job and taught us the most important and difficult thing: to know how to keep it”, he answers. During the ten months of training, not everything was a bed of roses. Discipline and constant work were the key to everything. “At night, I never slept with my colleagues; I always came and slept in the computer room, spending the nights listening to Spanish because it continued to fascinate me. With patience, you can achieve anything. And that way, I was always the first to arrive in class,” he reminisces.  

Rakesh graduated with flying colours, one of the best students to pass through the Professional School. His teachers still remember him as a young man with an amazing learning ability and an approachable but tenacious attitude. Thanks to his grades, the first job offer soon followed. “They called me from a company in Chennai, but what I liked the most was that they offered me the chance to travel to Mexico to work. And, of course, I just said, ‘Where do I sign up? 

That idea of taking an international flight began taking shape until it became a reality. Today, Rakesh has lived in Mexico City, the capital of  Mexico, for six years.  

Once a young student, he has now returned to visit the school. Rakesh has spent a few days in Anantapur recalling all kinds of experiences, meeting his teachers, and even participating in the Spanish classes at the school and motivating the current students. He has also been able to spend time with his family, who are the ones who saw his progress from school entry to his first professional steps.

Rakesh’s journey has been a long one, from Anantapur to Mexico. Through practice and perseverance, he has managed to fulfil his dream. When asked what message he wants to give to the students in Professional School, he replies, “In this life, there are many paths to choose from, and all of them are valid. But as cliché as it may seem, the best advice I can give is to work with a lot of effort and a lot of patience”, he says once again with a content smile. 

85%  of the students who have gone through RDT’s Professional School have found work after completing the course. Students like Rakesh have used these tools efficiently to fulfil their dreams.

Text:  Katia Álvarez Charro