Conquering loneliness by connecting old-age homes & orphanages via 'Maitri'

A group of schoolgirls has developed an app that will put the very old in contact with the very young and provide companionship that both crave.

A five-member team of school girls has developed an app—Maitri—that won the bronze medal at the Technovation Challenge, the world’s largest technology and entrepreneurship programme for girls, held in San Francisco, last month.

Maitri—a mobile App that connects children at orphanages with senior citizens in old-age homes, aims at bringing together individuals suffering from loneliness and depression and those lacking the nurturing love of elderly role models, said the all-girl team ‘Tech Witches’. The app was developed by team leader Ananya Grover, who lost two grandparents in quick succession, and the resultant sense of loss and loneliness she felt.

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