Help us protect girls from becoming brides

Asha belonged to a poor family living in a small village in Latur. Despite the challenges posed by poverty, Asha persisted in seeking an education. However, when she reached 10th grade, her parents asked her to drop out of school and get married. Asha was determined to continue her education and not succumb to child marriage.

Being a part of an adolescent girls group operated by a CRY project partner, Asha knew that if she didn’t study, she’d never be able to make her dreams come true. And so, she with the help of the project partners, convinced her parents to allow her to study further. Asha worked hard towards her dreams, against all odds. As the saying goes - fortune does favour the brave. Asha went on to become the first ever woman police officer of her village at Latur! “I used to be a part of the CRY Children’s Committee and the experience inspired me to stand up for my dreams. My parents wanted me to get married at an early age but I wanted to study. So I did. I wanted to become someone and today, I am. Everyone has the right to be successful in life – don’t let anyone stand in your way,” she says with pride.

This is what sheer determination looks like.

Yes, you read that right.

This is the story of a daughter inspiring her mother to take a step in the right direction. This is Sarika’s story. A fifteen year old student of the ninth standard, Sarika was studying in the Sitalpur High School, in Munger, Bihar. One of the bright students in her class, Sarika was extremely interested in continuing her education. Her parents though, thought otherwise. They were already in the lookout for a groom for this child and the first step they took was to stop her from going to school.

What they knew was that it was the norm to marry off your girl as soon as possible. This ensured her ‘security’ in her adolescence. What they didn’t know was that they had tremendously underestimated their own daughter. As soon as she came to know of her wedding, Sarika alerted her friends in the “Munna Munni Manch” (Children’s Group in her village, Mai, an intervention by CRY supported project Disha Vihar) and the Women’s Group. The parents, resorting to desperate measures, stopped her from leaving the house. She was trapped in her own home, and could not even meet her friends. In the meanwhile, the family of the groom met Sarika’s parents and her mother finalized her marriage. In order to make sure that there would be no obstacles in the way, the groom agreed to not take any dowry. Sarika was not convinced. She held her ground. This enabled the staff of Disha Vihar, the community, the children’s group and the women’s group to sensitize Sarika’s parents against child marriage. While they spoke to the girl’s family about the ill effects of child marriage on the child’s life, they also explained the vulnerabilities that it would expose Sarika to; they informed the groom’s family that what they were doing is illegal. Finally, the job was done. The groom’s family called off the marriage.

Today, Sarika is back to doing what she does best – studying. She completed her Secondary Examinations in the year 2013 and Higher Secondary (Humanities) in the year 2015. She has applied for Bachelor of Arts in the colleges of Munger apart from pursuing a basic computer course.

This, however, is not the end of the story. What Sarika has been able to do, is sensitize an entire village against the process of child marriage. More so, today this girl is accompanied by her mother in stopping child marriages in not only her own village, but also in the neighboring ones. That is what change makers are all about!