Diving in the question of ‘Who am I?’ with the students of rural school

 ‘The key lesson from the story was that he made sure that the caste based discrimination he experienced in his life; nobody has to go through it again.’

In our pursuit to build gender equitable villages, we have been engaging with the girls of Khushipura village through Sahasi Girls program, an evolving leadership and knowledge building program to empower girls to stand for their rights and build courage to question existent oppressive system. At the same time, we are also implementing gender and mental health program in various schools located near the village. With this objective, we conducted a session on ‘Who am I?’ with the students of Shri Adarsh Tikaram Singh Inter college, Khushipura village.  

The workshop started with the brief introduction of Sahas, the agenda for the next hour and setting of basic ground rules for the smooth running of the session. We then engaged with the participants through a fun energizer of ‘super power pose, haiyya and ting!’ The participants took some time to get accustomed to the game, there was lot of hesitation because it was a mixed group – girls and boys generally avoided each other however with the next two steps, slowly the barrier was broken and they started having fun in the game.

In the next part of the session, the participants were invited to create identity maps – sharing things they like or dislike along with aspects which are peculiar to them as a person. Many of the boys including one girl shared that they would like to join Army when they grow up, some of them loved playing cricket and one also mentioned that they enjoy parathas made by his mother.  One of the reasons behind the aspiration to join Army stems from the fact that many of the men in this village have built their lives, breaking the cycle of poverty and changed the family status by becoming Army personnel.

This was followed by storytelling session where we shared the story of Dr. BR Ambedkar when he was of their age, the kind of discrimination he was subjected to due to his caste and finally becoming the person who wrote the constitution of India. Some of the values and learning as shared by the participants from the story were – BR Ambedkar ensured that the social discrimination he faced due to his caste, must not happen to others. His life reflected his resilience, never losing courage and importance of education.  

Standing in the circle, the participants were invited to share ‘one good thing/quality about themselves’ – with shy smiles and curiosity, many of them talked about what they like doing, who is their favorite person and so.

‘I am Army lover, cricket lover and study lover’

‘I like playing hockey and want to join Army’

‘I like to study and talk to my friends’

The initial shame and awkwardness between the boys and girls slowly started vanishing when both of them shared their love for cricket. The facilitator hinted that we can do a cricket match with girls Vs boys – there was huge Yes to it and immediately they started talking about venue. This right here is the beauty of the safe space, where people open their heart, speak what they wish to share and gravitate towards each other as co-travelers irrespective of the identities they carry in and around themselves.

The session came to its closure with each participant sharing feedback in form of sound and action. We look forward to engaging more with this cohort of 28 students in the coming days.