By Smriti Mohanty | Programme Manager
In a pre-dominant tribal slum of Birsamunda Basti, Bhubaneswar lived a 14 year old girl named Heena Murmu (name changed). She was a bright student who would actively participate in sports such as football.
Seeing her keen interest in the sport, a football coach, Mr. Jaydev Mohapatra who had started a program for coaching adolescent girls, encouraged her to join his group. But her parents had other plans for her. They wanted to marry her off as soon as possible since good proposals were coming her way. They thought that this would secure her future and give her a stable life. Heena on the other hand wanted to pursue her passion and live life on her own terms.
During one of Aaina's visits to the slum where Heena dwells, she seeked the help of our staff regarding her situation. She wanted to focus on playing football and get trained professionally. The team at Aaina helped her in convincing her parents not to go ahead with the marriage and to her give a chance to decide her course. She wanted to focus on her education and build a career in sports.
Heena, with some support from Aaina, was successful in changing her parent’s mind. She joined the football training program and is thriving under the mentorship of Mr. Mohapatra. She is working towards creating a future for herself and is one step closer to that each day. Where there is a will, there is a way, and here at Aaina we always lend a helping hand to such kids with dreams to overcome their hurdles.
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
