By Manak Matiyani | Project Leader
Kasturee started her volunteership at The YP Foundation in 2017. As part of her year long volunteership, she was assigned a rehabilitation centre in Delhi to conduct sessions on Comprehensive Sexuality Education with adolescent girls and young women. However, once she went on ground, her experience was far more enriching than she had expected.
At the foremost, Kasturee had to break her own shell to talk about topics such as sexuality and menstruation, which is quite a taboo in an Indian society, especially for young girls. During mock sessions with the volunteers, they were told that while feeling uncomfortable is normal, they have to make sure they don’t let the participants become aware of their discomfort. There were subjects where she had to work on making herself feel comfortable whilst talking about them and answering questions regarding the same. Hence, as much as it was a learning experience for the participants, it was also a learning experience for her.
Conversations with the girls also made her aware that despite being from completely different backgrounds and having varied lifestyles, as adolescents, they have similar experiences. This only emphasizes the need for such experiences to be addressed instead of being treated as taboos. Working with The YP Foundation also made it easier for Kasturee to initiate conversations on issues like gender identities, sexuality, sexual and reproductive health and the need for sexual education with her friends and family. The one year of the volunteership brought about an ease with which Kasturee could deal with difficult conversations.
The volunteership consisted of other like-minded people with the same interests and hence, gave her a space to share her passion and have open discussions and gain more knowledge regarding the same. Lastly, the volunteership gave her clarity on how she can turn her interests into a career in the future and motivated her to carry on engaging in these important conversations with the people around her. We are very grateful for your support so that young leaders like Kasturee can continue to work on breaking taboos and myths among other young girls!
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