Life skills training of 300 girls in Mumbai slums

Greetings from Vacha.

This report tells you a spectrum of activities that took place from January 2013 till date.

As part of the project the girls are encouraged to acquire new skills and knowledge and take action on issues that concern them. The girls released their own community newsletter and sold it in their communities. They also performed street plays and delivered speeches at the public functions at the Indian Republic Day celebrations.

Vacha had organized two major events as part of the One Billion Rising -OBR- campaign. It was celebrated across the globe in almost 165 countries and women and girls were expected to rise against violence by singing, dancing and protesting. More than 500 girls participated in a fair in Kalyan, Thane district where they sang and enjoyed kite flying as well as participated in many activities in various stalls that encouraged them to express themselves, talk about their bodies and safety. In another event organized as part of OBR more than 1000 participated in the event organized at Juhu beach in Mumbai. A women sand sculptor prepared an appropriate sculpture and the girls shouted slogans, performed street play, recited poems and encouraged the men in the gathering to support their campaign against violence. The girls have also taken out rallies in their communities to raise the issue of gender equality.

One important development that we would like to report here is that during the Fair in Kalyan many girls reported inappropriate behavior of a few male teachers from their school at a stall where they were encouraged them to write on topics such as why is it like this? I would like to bring about change in/ I am happiest when./ I do not like that .. This issue of teachers inappropriate behaviour was followed up with the school and action was taken against the relevant male teachers by the school authorities.

8th March -Women's Day was observed as Mothers' Day by girls in all centres. This year, in addition to the fun filled activities for the mothers like singing, dancing and some indoor games, an innovative initiative was taken up. A questionnaire was prepared with some very simple but important details about the women such as the name of their best friend, their favorite food, age at marriage. The answers given by the family members were cross checked with those of the women themselves. The family in which maximum members knew maximum answers was honored in a public function in each centre. The objective was to make families realize that the woman, who cares for the whole family and caters all their likes and dislikes, has her own preferences in life too! It was also to highlight that women's personhood needs to be acknowledged and respected by families. The girls were trained to use the questionnaire in their families. Some of them had discovered new role models in their mothers by the end of this whole process as they came to know of hidden qualities, achievements and silent strengths of their mothers.

The Diwali festival was in the middle of November and so schools had a 3 week Diwali/winter vacation during the month. This was an opportunity to have fun filled activities and workshops. Regular sessions in English, library, general knowledge and computer use continued. Many girls are comfortable using computers and that makes their mothers happy and proud. The skill will help girls work on their own publication in form of leaflets and newsletters in January. Added is another empowering skill in form of photography for a relatively new group in Pisavli near Kalyan in Thane district. A 2 day workshop in photography was held. It was originally a village that is now under the impact of urbanization. The girls had never used a camera before. After a workshop they have learnt to take pictures of people and objects of their own choice instead of being only objects of a photograph. With basic knowledge and techniques of photography, they are encouraged tell their stories of daily life through their own pictures, in short to document it.

The girls under this project also attended a 1 day workshop on gender to contextualize their daily experiences of discrimination and control of their mobility etc. Some of them shared their perceptions and feelings about this situation, which were discussed by the group. It seemed the girls do feel strengthened by being together and doing activities collectively.

A hundred girls attended a health camp where their blood samples were tested for identifying their blood group, hemoglobin count and body mass index. This is important for adolescent girls, most of whom are denied necessary nutritious food because of traditional mindsets. This, coupled with heavy household chores, leads to a lot of girls and young women becoming anemic and having a low body weight. A session on low priced healthy food was arranged for girls and young mothers. However, it must be admitted that girls have very limited choice in selecting what to eat due to male centric household menus and son preference for good food.

An Educational Fair was held for about 150 girls in Pisavli, where there were gender and health based games and activities. This was a good way to expose a large number of adolescent girls to the issues of gender. It was also a way of creating a space in the community which was meant only for girls, and where they would be able to just play without inhibitions. Their amazement and joy at having been invited to such a place was infectious. It was a task to close the Fair and pack up for the day that evening!

In Netivali community, girls participated in an Anti-Superstition workshop and saw how it is that self-acclaimed religious gurus use sleight of hand to perform ‘miracles’ and cheat them. The belief in superstitions is a huge problem in many communities in India. These beliefs take on religious significance to the extent that many people refuse to go to a qualified doctor and instead rely on superstitious practices to cure themselves. It was important to expose the younger generation to the deceit and irrationality involved in these practices.

Girls in Malwani community participated in a puppet making workshop and also learnt to use the medium of puppets to express themselves. These girls being from conservative Muslim families are not allowed to take part in other self expression activities such as dance or theatre which require them to perform in public. Therefore, puppets are a good way for them to express publicly while being behind the curtains, literally, as puppetiers.

Participating girls in all three communities plan to use these skills to make public presentations to their community members based on their thoughts on various issues of girls and of the larger society.