Holidays are eagerly awaited when one plans activities to relax and rejuvenate. Be it travelling to one’s favourite destination or planning an outing with friends and family, a vacation boosts one’s spirits. Youngsters Medha, Abhinaya and Pujitha look forward to a few days off from their college so that they can spend time with their ‘sisters’, encourage and motivate them to be confident individuals.
As part of Voice 4 Girls NGO, these youngsters got an opportunity to help rural girls raise their voice for themselves and give shape to their aspirations and dreams.
At Voice 4 Girls office in Masab Tank, these college students are joined by Amrita Randhawa, operations manager, Anusha Bharadwaj, executive director and programme co-ordinator Ashal Swathi. There are smiles and laughter all around as the women recall the days spent at camp and their interactions with the girls.
Medha, a psychology student was browsing Facebook when the NGO’s call for an intern programme for urban women attracted her attention.
Summer camp
“It was a week-long summer camp and I thought this will be a chance to interact in a different way. This was an informal activity-based programme where volunteers dealt with issues like health, puberty, menstruation and early marriage through skits,” she states. The girls were also life skills and how one should negotiate without getting aggressive.
To say that these students developed friendships and bonded well with the girls at the camp would be an understatement. Amrita Randhwa recalls happy and some sad stories shared by the co-ordinators.
“The girls seal the relationship by calling the co-ordinators ‘akka’. At the end of the camp everyone is crying,” she says with a smile. With not much of an age-gap, the students bonded with the volunteers. Abhinaya talks about a session where one of the adolescent girls got her periods for the first time. “Instead of wanting to go home, she stayed back for the session,” she adds. Ashal recalls her sister’s session at one of the camps. “My sister is Chinese and when she went for the class, the girls looked at her as though they were looking at an alien,” she says with a laugh.
The girls slowly opened up with her. “On the last day, all of them were crying asking my sister not to leave,” recalls Ashal. Interestingly, Ashal, a student of St. Francis College joined the NGO as a counsellor and is now a co-ordinator.
Talking about the sessions which prepare counsellors for these camps, Ashal says, “Being more confident and responsible, learning to give, a boost to leadership qualities and developing public speaking skills… the counsellors rediscover themselves.” Poojitha says the camps helped her to be who she was. “I was able to accept myself, without worrying what people are thinking about me. It is also scary to know that these little girls make you as your role models and want to be like you,” she says. These summer and winter camps have given these counsellors some memorable moments. “When we look at these underprivileged students, we understand the value of life better and how blessed we are with the things we have.
The recent ‘IMPACT Big Sunday’ organised by the Telangana Social Welfare Department saw a session between parents and voice counsellors.
“It was a parents outreach programme in residential social welfare schools. We were reaching out to parents, counselling them to send their children back to schools after Dasara vacations,” states Anusha and adds, “It is a structured internship programme for youngsters who want to be counsellors. They will be paid and certificates will also be issued.”
Voice 4 Girls is starting its winter camp soon and is looking for young volunteers.
