Shooting For The Stars

Shooting For The Stars Real Stories Of Girls From Across The Country

By: Anuja Dixit

Shooting For The Stars By Anuja Dixit

This book is dedicated to all the girls and women out there who did not let any obstacle come in the way of their dreams!

The stories shared in this book are of girls from CRY supported project areas across India.

CRY- Child Rights and You- is an Indian NGO that believes in every child’s right to a childhood- to live, learn, grow and play. For four decades, CRY and its partners have been working with parents and communities to ensure lasting change in the lives of more than 30,00,000 underprivileged children across states in India. The stories shared in this book are of girls from CRY supported project areas across India. www.cry.org

INDEX “Here to learn, not earn – Nazima’s story” “Football makes dreams come true again!”

“Sona’s School-Coming” “The Sky is NOT The Limit!”

“First woman police officer of her village” “Unstoppable Marthal”

1 Here to learn, not earn – Nazima’s story Young Nazima lived with her family in Chandergare Village, Baramulla district, Kashmir. Her father was a labourer and getting jobs was never easy for him. Born in a poor family where earning bread was a daily task, it was hard for Nazima to study. She and her sister even started stitching to support her family. Due to all these conditions, she had to drop out of school in standard 5. She lost hopes in pursuing further studies.

She learnt about learning centers set up by JKASW - Jammu and Kashmir Association of Social Workers, a CRY supported partner. She visited the center not just to revisit her interest in books but also make new friends. The teachers at the center helped her and were very nice to her. With their support and intervention, Nazima was able to give an exam successfully and scored well in all the subjects. Since then there was no looking back as she passed two more exams and was ready to head back to school.

She was enrolled to 8th standard now and was more confident than before.

CRY played an important role in giving Nazime her dignity and confidence. With the support of their partner organization Jammu and Kashmir Association of Social Workers (JKASW), CRY is helping child labourers like Nazima get back to school. This is done through setting up Child Activity Centres (CAC) which is for ‘never-been to school’ children, drop outs, children on the verge of being drop outs and child labourers. Through remedial classes and bridge courses, the children are helped get back to school.

2 Football makes dreams come true again!

Jeyasutha dropped out of school in the 7th grade, due to lack of facilities in her school. The school even lacked toilet facilities. The girls had to wait till they got home to relieve themselves every day. This was the primary reason for most drop outs in school. Like countless other families in the slums of Vyasarpadi, when she stopped going to school, her parents thought it made sense for her to go to work. And so, Jeyasutha went from going to school to working at a local bookstore so that she could add to the meager family income where the sole breadwinner was her father who was a coolie.

When children from her community realized that Jeyasutha had dropped out of school, they brought it up during their children’s collective meeting. Members of the Vyasarpadi Children's Empowerment Project met with Jeyasutha and her parents. After holding a series of motivation and conscientization sessions with the family, the team worked with the SMC members and school’s headmaster to lobby for proper toilet facilities in school. Thanks to their combined efforts, they got a toilet built in a years’ time!

During the year, while the project team awaited the building of toilets in the school, they stopped Jeyasutha from going to work. Instead they introduced her to football sessions which are a unique method of intervention the project is known for. By engaging with children through sports, particularly football, they increase their confidence and motivate them to stay in school by showing them the various possibilities in life!

For Jeyasutha, this meant not only going back to school but also reaffirmation that her dreams could come true. It definitely worked with Jeyasutha who is now pursuing her B.Sc from Ambedkar College through a sports quota and continues to play football at the district level.

3 Sona’'s School-Coming Sona from Kotra district, Udaipur was just seven when her father passed away. And everything kept on getting difficult for her since then. Their condition became miserable as her mother used to cry a lot and they would only get food for once a day. Her four brothers and three sisters started farming on their small land. Her mother started going to the nearby cities where she worked as a farm laborer. She was good in studies but had to drop out in second standard. It became nearly impossible to work at home and then go to school also. Though her mother was not happy with her leaving school she took Sona to work with her.

Sona started helping her out in the farm and most of the time would help in the potato cultivation. But her story changed since she started going to Child Activity Centres in her village. Thanks to the organization Kotra Adivasi Sansthan, a CRY supported project, which is making an attempt towards curbing the problem of child labour through setting up Child Activity Centres (CAC) she commenced her schooling again. The project’s focus is children who have stopped going to school. The teachers in the centre convinced her mother to continue her schooling. And education could one day help her live a better life. The centre even helped her brothers and sisters get back to school. The centre, the teachers helped her bridge the gap in studies. Now eleven years old Sona is studying in sixth standard and is living a happy life.

Kotra Adivasi Sansthan, is making an attempt towards curbing the problem of child labour through setting up of Child Activity Centres. The purpose is providing remedial education to the children who are either out of school or on the verge of dropping out and facilitate their enrolment back to school.

4 The Sky is NOT The Limit!

“The path from dreams to reality does exist. May you have the vision to find it, the courage to get onto it and perseverance to follow it” -Kalpana Chawla When Muthumanoranjini read about Kalpana Chawla as part of her English curriculum, she was in awe of the fact that a small town girl from her very own country was able to reach for the stars and get there too! But she could still see some stark differences in her and Kalpana Chawla. For someone who is part of the Pallar (dalit/untouchable) community in Sattur, Tamil Nadu, she wasn’t sure if she’d be allowed to dream big.

Having been a part of children’s collective meetings during her school days in Anaikulam village in Tirunelveli district, where lived till she completed middle school, Ranjini was aware of her rights and opportunities and she felt that she could still achieve her dreams. Even when her family moved to the neighboring town of Sattur, this drove Ranjini.An excellent student in school, she kept at her dream and worked hard, eventually topping her school. As the first one in her family to have the opportunity to go to college, she presented the idea of studying aeronautical engineering to her parents.Unfortunately, her parents felt that it was a male-dominated profession and didn’t agree to send her for the course. When asked what she did then she says, “At first I cried. A lot. Then I realized that I need to make this happen.” She contacted the HREPC community organizer and caught the attention of the HREPC project holder, Bharathan.

Bharathan is a trusted leader within the people in the village. He spoke to the parents and convinced them, making them realize how this choice could potentially change the course of their daughter’s and their life.

His project also arranged for counseling on higher education for Ranjini and her peers.

Today, Ranjini’s parents are her staunchest supporters and she’s pursuing her second year in aeronautical engineering, having secured first rank in her first year.When asked what her future plans are, she replies without batting an eyelid; she’s going to do her post-graduation from Hindustan Aviation Academy in Bangalore and become an astronaut like Kalpana Chawla.Ranjini has come a long way and is definitely aiming for the sky. And we have no doubt that she’s going to get there!

5 First woman police officer of her village 18 year old Asha belonged to a small village in Latur. Her parents worked in fields and their living conditions were very poor. Migration was a prevalent issue due to lack of facilities in her village and poor living conditions. She often had to change schools because of this. In seventh standard, she joined the adolescent girls group through KMAGVS. The group helped her gain a lot of knowledge and awareness about child rights, including the government schemes and support provided to children. The group meetings were very insightful, and it gave Asha the confidence to work towards her dreams. It boosted her ambition to do something for her village and community. By the time she reached the 10th standard, her parents started looking for boys to get her married opposite to her will of studying further. With the help of KMAGVS members she requested her parents to allow her to study further. She also told them about her wish of wanting to serve for the society, and that of having a government job. She asked them to give just one year to prove herself. She studied very hard. She did not want to move out and wanted to do something in her own village. She was adamant yet confident and applied for a job in Police services in Latur even though there was only one seat available in the women’s category. She got the seat!

She is happy now, and her parents and teachers are very proud of her as well, as today Asha is the only woman in her village in Latur who has got admission in the police service.

6 Unstoppable Marthal 23 year old Marthal is currently an accountant at a BPO in Chennai. Her small stature and pleasant smile hides a lot of what she has had to go through. While for many in her community of Vyasarpadi, the job of an accountant might be coveted, Marthal has bigger dreams.The slums of Vyasarpadi have been infamous for crime and its decrepit status. For the longest time, children were an extension of the working class and girls who hit adolescence were bound to get married in order to “protect” them. In a community that still struggles with these issues and is at the brink of change, Marthal was a ray of hope. Having passed the UPSC prelims, she, and the rest of her community was sure that she was going to change the way people looked at Vyasarpadi. Marthal, who dropped out of school in 8th grade was re-enrolled thanks to the interventions of Vyasarpadi Children’s Empowerment Project (VCEP); a grassroots NGO supported by CRY. VCEP’s method of intervention involves ensuring children stay in school and away from child labour and child marriage through soccer. And boy did soccer work for Marthal! It helped her stay in school;VCEP was able to see her potential and push her to appear for the civil service examinations. Unfortunately, while Marthal was preparing for the next round, her father who was the sole breadwinner of her family fell ill and Marthal had to place a pause on her dreams to ensure that her family has a steady source of income.While her work allows for her to play only during the weekends, Marthal ensures that she doesn’t miss out on it since football helps her feel rejuvenated.Currently her priority is her family and being there for them but she is sure that her dream of being a civil servant is only on hold for now. She’s going to make her dreams come true and change the image of Vyasarpadi. “While we have a notorious image across the city, we know that we care for the world. We can do well. Civil service is my tool to let the world know about this. promises Marthal.