A hope for a big change...
A blog post by Khushboo Jain, Communications Trainee, on 14th July 2010.
The Tech centre had much been talked about. Worried about. Still further worried about, worked on harder for. Now it is happening. Started and happening. Right here, on the 3rd floor of our office at Lajpat Nagar. Feels good. A new feeling. The noises. The talking. Not a quiet place any more. The door opens more frequently than before , as new faces enter with hopes and dreams under construction.
Quite incredible, while I was updating their profiles, I figured that most of them are married domestic helpers, working for almost 6 hours a day and they have decided to spend the rest of their free time in educating themselves. Life well utilised, the desire to learn, the hope to grow. Inspiring...
These girls sitting in the next room, set a great example for any normal kid who hates going to school, because these girls don't get it very easy. They don't get anything easy. Sometimes not even decent good food. But they're doing it! They have taken this opportunity at the Tech centre and we are proud of them for doing so. For taking on the responsibility, to decide for themselves where they want to be, learning to take control of how much they want to know.
The Tech centre that was launched on 3rd of July recently, is sincerely being attended by these young women, with much discipline as they come to learn computing and English enthusiastically on time. We are very fortunate to have dedicated and compassionate volunteers, Maria (from Hungary) and Tanya (from Moldova), who despite of their communication divide, have been working hard and much patience, with the girls at the Tech centre, helping each one of them bring forth the best of their ability.
Only a few of the girls attending have had an encounter with a computer in their past, besides having studied up-to class 10th or 11th. The rest of the girls have never had the opportunity to touch a computer before, exposed to minimum education. But none of that matters any more! As all of these girls are already , enthusiastically working on Word and excel, making charts, learning to calculate, making neat tables for keeping a track of attendance and names and so on!!
Saraswathi (our office assistant) has also been trying her best to help the girls feel familiar with the computers. She is encouraging the students to feel comfortable with the computers while multi- tasking, being allowed with the comfort of attending her little 11 month old baby Surya, side by side at the office. Saraswathi, who has already been trained here with basic computing communication skills, confidently assists her fellow batch mates if they are stuck some way, while her baby joyfully plays and crawls about chuckling.
Sitting in this office, we feel happy with the launch, content with the response . A different picture has been unfolding before my eyes. There are people trying, trying to break out of the box, the box that these young women have been taught to live in. There are people trying to object, rejecting the confinements that make them unhappy. Bringing about a message, one doesn't need to give up on now, there is always a hope for a big change.
