A Stand of Solidarity
As Priyanka wore her school uniform, she looked herself in the mirror, the sight left her misty-eyed. A torrent of emotions ran deep inside her, the joy of joining her friends in her way to the school was no less than emerging victorious in a hard-fought battle. After six months of absence from the school, she is on her way again. The abandoned dreams and wishes have found wings again.
Priyanka’s family consists of her father, mother, three sisters and two brothers. The family lives in Alisingh village of Nuagarh block of Gajapati District. The family of eight members had always an arduous path to tread as they struggled to eke out a living. Agriculture was the main source of income and her father would shift to daily wage or any work available nearby to supplement the earnings. But it was always a drop in the bucket and their financial condition was on the decline. Poverty compelled her father to perceive education of girls as a burden. Remaining absent from school was nothing unusual for Priyanka as her father would instruct her to do the household chores and assist others more often than not. Whenever Priyanka insisted to go to school, her father would respond with a very strong voice saying “You are a girl. You will get nothing from education. You are destined to marry and go to another family where your skills in household works will count. Further, this is a large family and I can’t afford your schooling at all”. Finally, he dealt a blow one day by saying Priyanka would not go to school from the next day. Priyanka found arguing was like fighting for a lost cause as her father’s decision was final and binding. For days she cried, but then surrendering to the circumstances appeared the best option to her.
Alisingh was one of the villages in which ACEH (Agent of Change for Empowerment and Health) program supported by ACA (Action Child Aid) Denmark was implemented by Living Farms. As a key component of this programme, Kishori Dal was formed by a trained Kishori Sathi (appointed by Living Farms). All the adolescent girls became members of this group. The main objective of constituting such a group was to make the adolescent girls conscious about the issues they were facing and to develop their leadership qualities and skills to negotiate the issues successfully. A total of 19 meetings under the PLA (Participatory Learning and Action) Cycle were designed in a way that adolescent girls would be able to identify and prioritise their problems, prepare strategy, implement the actions and evaluate their action.
The Kishori Sathi convinced Priyanka’s parents and she too became a member of the group. During the fourth meeting in the sequel, a case study was discussed in the meeting. It was about an adolescent girl who was forced to stop her studies to get married at the age of 16 years only. Subsequently the girl suffered a lot of trauma due to early marriage and finally succumbed to complications. Priyanka correlated her situation with the sufferings of the girl cited in the story and became restless. Finding an amicable ambience in the form of Kishori Dal, one day Priyanka shared her grief and concerns over her future. The despondency she was undergoing was pushing her towards a depressing state day by day. The group assured her of all possible support and inspired her to take decisive step as inaction would yield no result. Priyanka found solace and strength from this impactful discussion.
The very next day, the Kishori Dala visited her house along with Kishori Sathi and initiated the discussion with her father. Backed by the band of girls, Priyanka gained confidence and requested her father not to stop her education as he wanted to complete her matriculation. Priyanka’s father adopted a belligerent approach and stated that education for her daughter was not as useful as doing the household chores. The discussion prolonged for more than one hour. Equipped with the persuasive skills, Priyanka along with other adolescent girls cited many incidences in which girls had become successful with education and suffered to death due to early marriage. Finally, they made her father realize the essence of education. The fruitful discussion ended with a positive nod from her father as he smilingly assured that he would not stop her from going to school and continue her studies.
Even if during formation of group it was discussed that unity was strength and collective effort was essential to deal with bigger issues, the adolescent girls were overwhelmed to witness the outcome of their collective efforts in convincing Priyanka’s father. As Priyanka has found a second chance to continue her studies, the group is now brimming with confidence to take up any kind of issues that affects the adolescent girls in their village.