By Rahul Brahmbhatt | Executive Director
The small community of VRP Chatram, a suburb of Chennai, has historically been one of the most conservative communities in South India. Girls typically are not allowed to step out of the house to participate in outdoor activities for anything outside of basic daily tasks. The village is primarily comprised of factory and agriculture laborers who commute to the next town for daily work. These workers have very little educational background and work very hard to make ends meet. The views on children, marriage, and gender roles are very traditional. School is for boys, girls must be married off as soon as possible, and boys and girls do not play together after a certain age.
19-year old Kowsalya spent her life thinking this was unfair, so she repeatedly went to the village elders to understand why things were the way they were and if something could be done to "level the playing field" for girls in the community. It was very clear that there were a different set of rules for boys and a different set of rules for girls. But it didn't matter who she spoke to - no one agreed with her.
One year ago, this began to change. Kowaslya, joined Magic Bus as a Community Youth Leader (CYL). Her leadership caught the eye of a female Magic Bus Youth Mentor, Kiruba.
"When I first met Kowsalya, she immediately came across as an independant, confident girl who wanted to empower herself and other women in her community. It was painfully obvious, though, that as hard as she tried, she couldn't muster up support from her community to agree with her views." As a local woman herself, Kiruba realized that Magic Bus could provide her the one thing her community couldn't - a network and platform of like-minded people that could support Kowsalya in fulfilling her potential as a community leader.
Before Magic Bus, Kowsalya felt a bit like a lone ranger, always discussing ideas on gender equality, health practices, and education, but her words were rarely heard. Children would listen to her, but these instances were few and far between. Magic Bus gave her the weekly platform for her to become a visible role model for girls in the community, and also gave her a peer group that could support her and help her grow.
Today, Kowsalya has graduated high school and is currently working on her Bachelor's in Computer Science and well on her way of being a change agent in her community, helping girls like her step outside of the house and into the light.
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