Empower Girls through football in a slum in India

There are some good news and some bad news. We start with the bad news: for one entire month the Yuwa Dharavi Girls Football Program had to take a break because we had a shortfall of coaches. The initial coaches Anand and Hiralal as well as the assistant coaches had to go back to Jharkhand. Reality Gives found it very difficult to find new skilled coaches who will accept the commitment to daily training sessions. 

But now with the help of another great NGO, the Oscar foundation we have found a new coach and the training has started last Monday, the 14th of January for the 20 regular participants. The goal for the next months is the first match against another team and to recruit more girls. With the commitment and enthusiasm of the girls and the new coach we are very positive to report you better results in the next report.

Now the good news: although the footbll training wasn't happening we still kept the girls busy with a very unique project we haven't done before: a drama workshop. As part of the BMW Guggenheim Lab eight girls performed a play in front of a big audience at Guggenheim Lab stage at Mahim Beach. They created the piece with the help of the director Pramod Pathak during a 15 Day workshop. The aim was to give them a chance to explain their perspectives on life in Dharavi so the director spend some days just to talk and listen to the girls. Their play was about the daily issues and hopes of the girls. It contained a father beating a mother and not allowing the daughter to study but also about receiving finally respect and freedom. The girls were especially proud of their self-created dance performances. 

Last Saturday, the 12th January the girls even performed a second time in front of a even bigger audience at the TedXMasala event in Powai. The team of Reality Gives and Yuwa is very proud of the smart and talented girls and how they handeled the big crowd observing them.

But now it's time to get back to football as the girls are already very excited to play again. Pooja, Kristina, Mahalakshmi and Mansi will also participate in the Mumbai Marathon on the 20th of January. Before that the whole team will host a training session for all runners of the "Dharavi Dream Run Team". Find out more on our website: www.realitygives.org/dharavi_dream_run_team. To see photos of the event itself please stay tuned on Facebook.