He's just 12, but Sharjah boy has donated Dh34,000

Twelve-year-old Sharjah-based boy Aaditya Singh has just got his braces and is like any regular kid, except for the fact that he has donated Dh34,000 to charity.
A winner of the Shaikh Hamdan Award for Academic Excellence, the eighth-grader donates everything he gets - from cash prizes to government awards and scholarships.
He's given the Dh10,000 that he received from the Sharjah Award for Academic Excellence to the Nepal Earthquake Relief in 2015; and another Dh10,000 to a breast cancer patient to cover her treatment costs in 2014. He also gave up two air tickets he won during a contest to a cancer patient in the UAE so that she could travel to India for her treatment.
A mighty feat for someone who is still in middle school.
Instead of keeping the money for himself, and getting a new iPhone or a gaming console, he chooses instead to use his older brother's hand-me-down mobile and goes over to his friends' houses every time he wants to play video-games.
His mother, Veenu Kanwar, says a lot of people ask why he doesn't buy anything for himself. "They ask him why he donates it all away when he doesn't even have a smart phone or a play station."
Singh's favourite subjects are languages and he is currently studying Arabic and French in addition to English at school.
While there's no doubt that he's a gifted student, he is also an avid table tennis player and regularly uses the sport to raise funds for causes. When he turned eight, Singh thought there wasn't much he could do to help people.
"That's when I started thinking about how I could be more charitable. The cause that's closest to me is the 'Protect Your Mom Campaign'.
My aunt and grandmother died of breast cancer, so I wanted to be a part of it even if it meant that I remind my mom every month to do a self exam that could save her life," he tells Khaleej Times.
But why does Singh, a student of Delhi Private School, give everything away? According to him, it's because there are people who need it more than him.
"I feel if I give, I will get, and the more I give I start a chain reaction of goodness. It always makes my day when I see that I've helped someone who needs it more than me," he says.
Sarakshi@khaleejtimes.com

• Sharjah