By Payal Morari | Co-President
Immerse, surround, capture, learn. These are all words to describe the attitude that our chapter has evolved throughout the summer, by means of preparing for another academic year, and through our annual internship, the Grassroots On-Site Work Internship (GROW). During this three week internship, about five students from our chapter work with our partner to strengthen our relationship and to better understand and learn of the impact of the program and our partnership.
The GROW interns have immersed themselves in their experience in the Dhenkanal district of Odisha, India. They have built relationships with SOVA’s staff, with previous and current trainees of the General Duty Assistant Program, and with activists in the Odian community that are working each and every day to share knowledge, and to make the community a safer and better place for female children to thrive.
Recently, SOVA has been leading the forefront of implementing action to follow the Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques Act. The PC&PNDT Act was established to combat the rapidly decreasing female population due to a rooted preference for male children. SOVA has gathered members from the community, especially adolescent males and females, to reflect on what the future can be if nothing is done to protect female children. SOVA has also been determined to address the topic of reproductive sexual health among adolescents in Odisha, India, as this is an integral part of understanding one’s future health.
SOVA has surrounded itself with activists and people who are determined to make a change. From their graduates who are excitedly sharing their interest in coming back and leading future programs, to members of SOVA staff, such as Prasanta, one of SOVA’s head staff members, our GROW interns have been constantly inspired. One intern, Emily, after knowing Prasanta for only six days says, “We have spent our long car-rides and evening chai times this week talking with Prasanta and getting to know each other on a more personal level. If you ask any GROW team member after this week, they would likely describe Prasanta as one of the most wholesome, driven, and progressive people we have ever met. We talked with him about his desire to be an advocate for the often overlooked adolescent population that makes up over 20% of India’s population, about the different forms of birth control available in India versus the U.S., and about various other topics that we had expected to be off limits with someone we had just met. I think we are all a little bit jealous of Prasanta’s drive to promote change and challenge social norms in his community.”
The GDA program has successfully run for five batches, and is now preparing for a sixth batch. SOVA has captured the respect of the community, and is now extending its reach to create more change in even more areas in their community.
As our interns make their journey back home, and we prepare to start our academic year on strong feet, we are both humbled and all the more driven to share the work of our amazing partner, and to apply the values and principles we learn from them to inspire change in our own community. In Rochester, our chapter is establishing a local partnership to further exercise the GlobeMed model of supporting sustainable change through grassroots organizations.
With the change that SOVA is empowering, any funds we raise in reaching our year-long goal of $9000, will help to fund training for 30 youth to become patient care assistants, and sexual health education for 500 adolescents in the Odian community. In this journey we value your undying support, as your every donation will directly spread the power of knowledge, education, and health to adolescents. We ask that you spur up conversations about different issues in your own communities and in communities across the globe, and ask yourself; “what can we do to make this world a better place for ALL people living in it?”
We thank you for your involvement in supporting our partner and our chapter; we would not have made it this far without your support, and we will not make it as far as we dream to go, without it in the future.
If you would like to learn more about our chapter of GlobeMed at the University of Rochester, about our GROW interns’ experience in Odisha, and about our unwavering passion and support for SOVA, please visit our website.
In Solidarity,
GlobeMed at the University of Rochester
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