By DEBADUTTA DASH | Secretary, Sukarya USA
Dalia, 13, lives with her parents and six siblings in one of the slums of Gurgaon. Her parents migrated from West Bengal in search of employment opportunities and better life. Realities of living in an urban slum hunt her everyday. She realizes that she lives in an insecure environment where young women face the problems of sexual attacks on a daily basis. She hopes to learn about the threats that society harbors against her, and how to avoid them. Luckily, her parents do all they can to ensure the well being of their seven children by doing all sorts of odd jobs such as daily wage work and working as domestic help in the neighborhood houses.
The news of Sukarya's ARSH and FLE programs in their slum came as a blessing in disguise for Dalia's family. Being the third eldest amongst her siblings, Dalia is the first of her generation to attend any kind of an education program. Her elder two siblings, though still uneducated, had to stay back assisting their parents in raising the five other siblings.
Through regularly attending the training sessions of ARSH and FLE, Dalia learnt about menstrual health and other issues affecting women’s health and safety in the society. She was completely unaware of menstrual health and hygiene, however after just a couple of sessions she immediately started following all tips given during the session. She became a strong advocate of menstrual hygiene in her locality and helped fight the taboo against menstruation.
Having witnessed child marriage from close quarters she had earlier thought it to be normal, however after learning about its physical and emotional impacts on women, she understood that child marriage is a social evil in reality. When her parents thought about getting her elder sister married at the age of 16, she stood up against the idea and explained to them how it coulkd affect her sister’s well being. Through the knowledge gathered from ARSH and FLE, Dalia wishes to be an empowered young woman who would be able to shield other girls from any such harm. She feels that the experience of mentoring other young adults will help fulfill her dream of becoming a teacher and assist other adolescents to feel empowered and protected.
Empowering and Protecting Slum Girls
Progress Report (November 2017 to January 2018):
During the above reporting period, a total 6 training sessions were organized with 247 Adolescent girls residing in two slum locations of Gurgaon.
The training sessions were categorized into two segments [1] Adolescent Reproductive & Sexual Health [ARSH] and [2]Family Life Education [FLE].
During this quarter 3 sessions were organized on ARSH and 3 sessions on FLE.
The following topics and contents were covered,
ARSH
[1] Malnutrition in adolescent period
[2] Menstrual Hygiene
[3] Drug abuse amongst adolescents
2. FLE
[1] Family Problems & its causes
[2] Domestic Violence and Gender based Violence
[3] Child marriage and its consequences
Links:
By Debadutta Dash | Board Member, Sukarya USA
By Debadutta Dash | Secretary, Sukarya USA
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