Support Group Diaries: Madina and Diksha's Stories

Madina rethinks marriage

17 year old Madina's marriage was arranged four months ago, and she was excited about it. She would spend all day talking on the phone with the boy, and her attention slowly moved completely away from her education. As she obsessed about her upcoming wedding, she became irregular at school, tuition, and cluster meetings.

The Youth Mentors (YMs) visited her home to find out more about it from the mother. She said "Madina's marriage was arranged with very nice man, who does good work. She had to get married sooner or later...'. She added that they were thrilled to have found such a good prospect so quickly, and it only made sense to speed things along.

Support Group Diaries: Four Short Stories

No more violence Baba

One day the support group was discussing Warning Signs at the cluster meeting, when Mudit (12 years) told the YM that his father gets drunk and beats his mother. 'If my sister or grandmother tries to help my mother, they also get beaten up. Because of this, my older sister and brother have stopped going to school, and I am worried my education will also stop”.

The YM asked him whether he had considered telling his father that his behaviour upsets him and how it is affecting the family. Mudit had not thought of that option. The YM helped him figure out what he could say, but Mudit he remained non-committal about confronting his father. The other children and YM then encouraged him to follow through and reach out to his father.

Support Group Diaries: Namita gets a haircut

Namita (20 years) and her family lived in serious conflict. She was often beaten, sometimes denied food or entry to the house. Her mother Mahua has always been disturbed by Namita's need to dress and behave in a masculine way. Mahua would speak badly about her daughter, make negative comments about her body, compare her with her niece, and would ask why she could not behave like a 'proper girl'. Namita has always been very tense about this. Last year her parents wanted to send her to Assam, against her will, to work at a beauty parlour. During that time, she received emotional support from the YRC on how to overcome this situation.

Namita fought against that pressure the best she could, and enrolled herself to be trained as a professional driver (through the YRC partnership with Azad 'Women On Wheels' programme). Her parents quickly stopped that, and gave her an ultimatum; if she continued, she could not stay in the house. Namita felt her family had no love for her.

Things started changing from the 8th of March, 2019. That was the first day of the parent-programme at the YRC: the Women’s Day Parent-Child Interconnectedness Workshop.