By Nooreen Dossa | Communications Manager
Gita belongs to a village in Pali district. The entire village migrates during the summer season along with their cattle to distant places like Malwa, Madhya Pradesh. They live a gypsy-like life and keep traveling in search of livelihood. Gita’s siblings do not go to school, but Gita goes regularly! She studies in 7th standard and wants to study further. She wants to continue, till she becomes a teacher!
“I was married off when I was studying in second standard in Rebadia, a neighboring village. My husband and in-laws are also nomads and keep migrating every year. Is this life?” says Gita.
Gita does not like this nomadic lifestyle and wants stability to study and get a good job. Educate girls supported Gita’s dream and helped her get enrolled in school.
She is a member of the Girl’s Council and looks forward to the weekly meetings with the group. Ever since then, her role has been to bring more and more girls to school by visiting their families and encouraging them to educate their girls.
With all the curiosity we inquired, “What if your in-laws prevent you from studying further?”
“No way. My husband is illiterate. I will even make him study. I will not let him live this gypsy life, nor will I”. Gita’s village has a school, but only till eighth grade. For high school she will have to travel three miles far away. “I will go to live with my husband only after 12th grade and that too when they will promise to let me study further. How can I leave my studies in between if I have to get a job!? I will have to work something out!”
Educate Girls’ Bal Sabha (Girl’s Council) empowers Gita and many others like her to make life choices and helps them to pursue their dreams.
*Name changed to protect the identity of the child
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
