‘Agents of social change’

Salini Sahu of Jengera village in Nuapada district has an ambition, which may sound strange to others but she means it. She very confidently says, “I want to be a good leader.”

Salini is only 20 years old, but she perfectly understands the situation of the adolescent girls. “Our community needs to be educated on the adverse effect of child marriage to protect child rights and promote sexual reproductive health rights among the adolescents,” she says.

Due to her active involvement in different community awareness generation programmes on rights of adolescents, she is now recognised as a discussion leader in her locality. She works as a teacher in an English Medium School but finds times from her busy schedule to be engaged as a community builder. She always expresses her thanks to the NGOs Save the Children and Asha-Odisha for creating an opportunity for her to get out of the four walls of the home to establish own identity in the society.

Sonali, an Adivasi girl of Panabandha village in Rayagada district, is now reading in a junior college in +2. When her parents insisted on her marriage a few months ago, she fought tooth and nail to dissuade them from their decision. Her parents insisted on her marriage as it was a proposal from a boy working in a Government office. When Sonali stood firm on her stand, they withdrew. Sonali had to struggle a lot to make her parents understand that unless a girl is 18 years old, her body is not fit for marriage. “I had to fight in all fronts – my parents on the one hand and the villagers on the other. Everyone says that it is the tradition in tribal society to marry early; no one will marry if the age is more etc. However, I told clearly that I am only 15 and the marriage law says the minimum age for a girl to marry is 18, and secondly; I am the president of the adolescent group of our village which has vowed to stop child marriage,” said Sonali.

Living Farms – an organization working in Rayagada district is the source of inspiration for Sonali. Gwadi Bhoi, who is a 26-year old confident lady now, was working as a child labour in the year 2000 in Dedarha village of Kalahandi district. She was rescued by the NGO Kartabya and admitted in to a child labour school. This organisation guided her to study up to +2 and then engaged her as a coordinator of Child Development Programme. She is now adept in communication and basic management skills. She is very self confident and optimistic. In addition to working for development of children, she also works for women empowerment. Girls like Gwadi, Salini and Sonali are making changes from within; which we should hope would lead to a greater change in the society. We should thank these little change agents on the International Women’s Day.