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 Geeta Prajapati
President, Satguru Saheb Swayam Sahayata Samooh, Jai Vishnu Mahila Gram Sangathan and Asha Ki Kiran Mahila Block Sangathan
I underwent gender training in Jais and have been
telling all other women about this – that there is no
difference between boys and girls and that the gender of
the child is not a woman’s fault. There is a woman in
our village who had one son and five daughters after
that. When the fifth daughter was born, it became a big
issue. The husband beat the wife and she went hungry for
two days. Finally, she came to the Gram Sangathan
meeting and told us about her problem. I and another
office bearer went to her house and explained things to
the husband. We told him that the sex of the child is
decided by the male chromosome XY, the woman has nothing
to do with it. We also told them that it is women who
ensure that society carries on. We then made sure that
food was cooked and they both ate. We promised that if
it was a problem, the Gram Sangathan would get the newly
born girl married when the time came. Our Gram Sangathan
now has a Gender Committee also which informs people
about this. |
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 Kamla Devi
Member, Kali Swayam Sahayata Samooh an, President, Adarsh Mahila Gram Sangathan, and Community Resource Person, Village Bela Gusisi, Block Rahi
When my husband died after a long illness, I did
not have enough money to join the samooh. Someone put in
money for me for three month. But then I borrowed from
the samooh and opened a small shop and returned the
money. Today I have been chosen the Adhyaksh of the Gram
Sangathan and I know I have the courage to do what is
right. A few months ago, the thakurs of the village
accused my son of stealing electricity – taking an
illegal connection from the pole. They came to my house
and abused me. I apologised and said that I would tell
my son never to do it again. But they wrote wrong
complaint in the thana that they had suffered a loss of
Rs 50,000 because of my son and that I was making
alcohol in my house. The police came to my house but
could find nothing. Even then they said that I should
pay them Rs 500 or I would be put in jail for six
months. I was very frightened and rang up the Field
Officer. He told me not to worry and not to pay the
bribe. He said that there were 10,000 women behind me
and that I should tell the police to arrest me. So I
told the police to arrest me. In the meanwhile, all the
Gram Sangathan women collected at the thana and waited
for the police to bring me there. But the police did not
arrest me; neither have they come to my house again. |
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Geeta Pandey
Gayatri Swayam Sahayak Sammoh, member;
Jagrati Mahila Gram Sangathan, member; Astha
Mahila Block Sangathan, Adhyaksh, and CRP, Baboo
Ka Purva
Before the samooh, I didn’t know anything, I was
scared of everything. I was not allowed to go
out of the house by my parents-in-law. Then our
Project Manager came to our house and spoke to
my father-in-law to get permission for me to
join the samooh. He asked if I had gone to
school and I told me that I had studied till
class 10 which was of no use. He then asked me
to collect women from the village which I did.
He explained about the samooh and weekly savings
to us. Soon the account of the samooh was
opened. I was really scared when we went to the
bank for the first time. Then we started lending
and borrowing
Soon after that the Community Volunteer asked if
I wanted to go outside the village. I said that
I would not be allowed by my husband or
mother-in-law. But he persuaded my husband. So I
was allowed to come for the CRP training for
three days to Jais –in fact my husband even
dropped me in Gauri Ganj! During the training I
learnt a lot and immediately after returning, I
started going out to villages to talk to women
about the benefits of the samooh.
Today I am not scared. I know how to talk, to
use the right words, I have learnt to think, to
use my brains. I am free from the village and
the family. I have an identity of my own—the
women in the block come to me for help. And I am
training the women in my block to take up income
generating activities. In fact there are very
few women in the block who are not doing dairy,
fish farming, setting up shops, vegetable
farming. I want to make sure that there are no
poor women in my block – that is why I spend so
much time in field work. |
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 Abida
Bano
Adhyaksh, Shifa Swayam Sahayata Samooh, Upadhyaksh
Makka Sharif Gram Sangathan, Village Baheoo
When we first joined the samooh and started going for
meetings, many people in the village would taunt us and
say that we have become too independent and have no
decency left. But we continued because we knew what we
were doing was right. We continued to do all our work
while wearing the burkha. Soon our gram sangathan was
formed and many of our incomplete tasks were also
completed. The gram sangathan gave us the strength to
raise our voices against the wrong that was happening in
our village. Some children were being given scholarship
in our Panchayat school while some were left out. The
children were not getting their free mid-day meal
either. We went to see the headmaster who said that 65
children were getting scholarships but when we looked at
the records we found that only 30 children were getting
it. When we questioned the headmaster, he said that this
was not his responsibility. When we asked him put this
statement down in writing, he got scared and said that
he would see what could be done. Within a few days, all
65 children started getting scholarship and the mid-day
meal was also started. |
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 Kaikasha
Parveen
Saraswati Swayam Seva Samooh, member; Kalyani
Mahila Gram Sangathan, Koshadhyaksh, Village Kalyanpur
Our village Kalyanpur is very poor, people make a
living by doing mazdoori. Also people are illiterate and
have too many children. There is not enough to feed them
in each household. We have been going to each woman and
household and telling them to do family planning. We
explain that if you have fewer children, you will be
able to feed them better, look after them better,
educate them. Over 40 families in the village have
adopted family planning. |
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