i empathize with their struggle though. being educated is a luxury and choosing whether to use what you've learned to benefit yourself or to benefit your community is difficult.
all i can say is that let these girls cross that bridge when they get there. i agree that their futures are in question and they will struggle making choices usually reserved for wiser and more mature. can we first, however, focus on helping them shape and sharpen the tools with which to make these decisions?
my favourite parts:
She decided to bring in one or two girls from each community in a four-hour radius. When they first come to her they are shy and hunched, like the parents who waited at the gates. But six months later, they have begun to learn that they have every right to take up space – to have ideas, expectations and ambitions.
Yet Sister Sudha's anxiety as the girls leave for Dushera hints at the deep fissure that runs through her experiment: Her girls are now caught between their old lives and their new potential. They have learned to dream, but their families, their villages and India itself have little place for a Mushahar girl with dreams. Now, they stand out – and when you are Mushahar and female, that's rarely a good thing.
She is immensely proud of her daughter, who is now in charge of reading any paperwork the family needs for government welfare programs. The sole decoration on their walls is a clock Poonam won in a debating competition.
Other people have their ideas, but caste isn't going to stop her from doing what she wants – going to university, getting a job, having an independent life. “It's just about what you have in your mind,” she says quietly.
No comments:
Post a Comment