8-year old Role model and philanthropist Abhijay Potluri

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Eight-year old Indian American Abhijay Potluri of Massachusetts seems to have an inbuilt need to share his money and his experiences. His video on how he spends his day in lockdown, has gone viral.

That is just a few days after Abhijay won $2,500 as prize money for his coronavirus-related animation and donated it all to UNICEF. A video of his conversation with UNICEF’s Executive Director Henrietta H. Fore went viral in a day garnering around 6.3million views, 131K reactions and more than 22K comments.

On September 2, UNICEF uploaded a video on their official Facebook page showing Abhijay doing chores around the house. The video now has over 19 million views, close to 355K reactions and over 31K shares. This inspiring kid talks about how his parents have been busy working from home so he and his younger brother do chores around the house.

What doesn’t he do, is the question.

“Today I will show you a day in my lock down. Let’s go! We always start our day with a protein-filled breakfast. Our mornings are usually really busy because our parents are rushing upstairs to get to their work meetings. So we try to help out in any way we can,” as Abhijay is seen saying in the video.

“Ever since the lockdown started I was wondering what my parents were doing all day looking at the computer. Then my mom introduced me to computer programming and she showed me how I can learn on my own. And I usually do my programming in the mornings,” says the precocious Abhijay.

He really enjoys playing chess and competing in tournaments, he says. In his free time, he loves playing the guitar and practices new songs. But, most of all Abhijay loves playing with his brother Aditya and, they love reading together. Abhijay’s favorite part of the day is when he plays video games with his friends online.

“But I really miss seeing my friends so that’s why we catch up on video calls and play video games together.” Abhijay adds in the video.

His overall message to kids and adults alike is never underestimate kids, that he understands it is difficult time for everybody to not go outside and meet their friends, staying home and staying  socially distanced.

“We are all in this together so let’s stay home and stay safe,” concludes Abhijay.

The numerous comments on the video praise Abhijay for not only being an extraordinary animator but also doing chores.