Swiss Woman Sandra Lavie Left Dubai’s Corporate World For India: Her Free School Now Teaches 150 Children

Fifteen years ago, Sandra Lavie had what most people would call a settled life: raised in Switzerland, educated, and working a well-paying corporate job in Dubai with the travel and comforts that came with it. She left it behind on a one-way flight to India, carrying two shirts, two pairs of trousers, and no plan beyond the ticket itself.

‘India was a culture shock, but it also gave me exactly what I had been searching for: simplicity, purpose and perspective,’ she told TOI Women, describing the months she spent travelling the country largely by train and alone. The experience eventually pointed her toward Sagar Island in West Bengal, reachable only by a long train ride followed by a boat crossing.

Rather than starting with a fixed programme, Sandra spent time in three island villages listening to residents describe what they needed most. Those conversations, she says, became the blueprint for the project she has now run for fifteen years. Winning trust took direct effort – she went door to door herself, asking parents to send their children to a school run by a foreigner they had never met.

That slow start has since grown into a free primary school teaching 150 children across five classes, tuition and meal support for another 120 children attending government schools, and sewing training for 20 local women aimed at building financial independence. The organisation also runs awareness work around domestic violence, child marriage and human trafficking.

Looking back at the corporate career she walked away from, Sandra says she has not looked back once. ‘Material possessions are temporary. They may bring comfort, but they do not bring lasting fulfilment,’ she said.