The biggest challenge before the Telugu associations in the United States is attracting the second generation Telugus born and brought up in America to the associations’ activities if Telugu culture, language and literature have to be protected and passed onto the future generations, says Jayanth Challa, president-elect of the American Telugu Association (ATA), one of the earliest Telugu associations to be formed in the US.
“This challenge is genuine and as ATA president-elect, my focus is on ensuring the active participation of second-generation Telugus or else the following generation will lose connection with their mother tongue and ancestral land,” opines Mr. Challa.
So, he will be focussing on the ‘Connect-Bond and Bridge’ theme in his term aiming at second-generation Telugu kids: “They need to be enticed into the organisation and this will happen when there are more professional activities.”
