By Jocelyn Jose | Project Leader
Did you know, that in Haryana, family members and villagers beat utensils (thaali) and dance ONLY on the birth of their sons?
In May 2014, Breakthrough’s very own staff member Sanjay, shattered this norm and did what was unthinkable for the people of his village, he beat the thaali on the birth of his daughter. That was a first in his village and today more than a year later, there are many more Sanjay’s in Haryana who celebrate and value the birth of their daughters. Step by step, Breakthrough wants change to seep into the hearts and minds of people who don’t wish to have a girl child.
Watch Sanjay’s story of celebrating the birth of his daughter with his community here.
Taking our work on gender biased sex selection (GBSS) and gender based discrimination (GBD) out of Haryana and making more and more people aware of its unfortunate existence in our country, Breakthrough held its first ever fundraiser this October to raise awareness about GBSS & GBD. We held an event to highlight these issues at India’s financial capital, Mumbai, where 40 iconic and influential women walked the ramp as Breakthrough's "cause ambassadors" to demonstrate the importance of Women in the ‘cycle of life’ and raise awareness on the issue of the "missing girl".
Breakthrough collaborated with one of most renowned names in the Indian Fashion world and longtime supporters of Breakthrough- Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla. The event was a huge success, bringing in women from all across the country to support the issue and raise resources to continue our work against GBSS and to spread awareness about missing women.
Our event saw these influential women walking, some with their daughters, to raise awareness about the sad reality of just having 834 girls to 1000 boys in the state of Haryana. With the help of awareness and resources we raised through this event, Breakthrough will now run its video van throughout its intervention districts in Haryana in November 2015. Children, youth and the community at large will be exposed in these 20 days to the issues we work on, and their relevance in their lives through innovative means like magic shows, street theatre, puppets shows, and games not just to raise awareness but catalyse action. Our video van will also run through the 150 schools that we work with through our Taaron ki Toli programme.
This is my appeal to YOU today. Your support has helped us reach this far in our work against GBSS and GBD in Haryana. With more generous people like you, we might be able to empower more men and boys like our very own Sanjay who do not see any reason to discriminate between their son and daughter. If you aren’t already one, we hope you will become a recurring donor and support our work on a continued basis.
Your renewed support would enable us to take another step forward towards making violence again women unacceptable and making the world a safer place.
With sincere gratitude,
Jocelyn Jose
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