‘I have engaged with people on different issues be it education, gender along with my studies. I believe in taking action, where I see a need. I don’t intend to keep waiting for Government or parents or anyone else to do something while the person experience injustice, indifference or inequality on daily basis.’- Mona Yadav, Co-founder, Sahas.
Sahas
has been working with women and girls in Khushipura village since the year 2020
to build gender equitable village. In our journey to know Sahasi girls better,
we have been visiting their homes, meeting families and engaging with them. Many
of these families have a child, young person or an adult with disability,
restricted to home, without a connection with outer world and experiencing
total dependency on family members. There is no knowledge and awareness on
government schemes, and because of stigma around disability, they experience
apathy, sometimes pity and many times they are invisibilized even by their own
people.
As
part of our awareness campaign on Human Rights, we engaged with 250 young boys
and girls that include Sahasi Girls from Khushipura village and 3 schools in
nearby villages in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. Taking a step further, we initiated
to engage people with disability in this discourse. Since few of them are
unable to leave their home and come to workshop space, we decided to visit
their home. We were welcomed with a beaming smile and a nod instantly building
a connection. This house we were organizing the session is traditionally made
with open layout and a mud floor freshly polished with cow dung; few rooms
built in a row with a roof and buffalo shed on other side. Both brother and
sister sat on different charpai (a bed made of wood and rope) alongside
the team members of Sahas. We also invited their mother and other women to sit
with us. Slowly three more girls who were doing different household chores
joined us.
The
session began with the brief introduction of who we are, why we have come here
and sharing our intention for next hour. The objective of this session was to
get to know each other and provide a connection with persons with disability
since they are restricted to the bed and lacks mobility. We then invited each
person to share their names and one thing they like. It was beautiful to see
them share their names, things they like with shy smiles and curiosities.
Following
this, we facilitated an art session, where in everyone was given a drawing book
and colors; they can either fill the colors or draw on a new page. One of the
girls said that her brother (who has disability) won’t be able to draw as they
can’t properly hold the pencil. However the person said enthusiastically that
they wish to draw and quickly grabbed the art book. What ensued after this, is
nothing less than magic. Everyone in the session – young girls who had never
come to our sessions, a girl with disability, a boy restricted to his bed, two
women who have for ages just taken care of their family never held a pencil in
their hands, team members at Sahas – all engaged in creating and drawing art.
There was pin drop silence, a silence that felt like meditation, the one that
spoke of human connection, and the one that emphasized how language and words
are overrated.
The participants took their time to fill the colors, admire their drawing and share with each other their experience. Post the art session we all sat together to enjoy samosa and laddoo while basking in the winter sun.
When
we talk about human rights, it’s not just providing basic amenities, or government
schemes and related jobs, it is also about living a life with dignity without
discrimination, being alive and having connections with other humans. This is
where our work at Sahas starts, we hope to create more such sessions and have
regular engagement with persons with disability along with Sahasi Girls.
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