Turning Dreams Into Reality

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
-Eleanor Roosevelt

This inspiring quote by Eleanor Roosevelt truly resonates with the story of 20-year old Pintu who hails from a small village in Udaipur. Like any other girl in her village, Pintu’s daily routine also included cooking, cleaning and feeding the cattle. Her father is the village priest and also does farming so he never considered education important to earn a living. It was very difficult for Pintu to pursue her dream of education with this kind of mindset held by her family. Despite this atmosphere at home, she did not give up on her education and became the most educated person in her family of 9 siblings.

When Educate Girls was looking for a community volunteer (called Team Balika) who would champion girls’ education in their own village, Pintu was an ideal choice. After the recruitment process and evaluation, Pintu underwent training for taking charge as a Team Balika.

As a Team Balika, she along with the staff of Educate Girls, conducted door-to-door survey in the village to identify out-of-school girls. In a community meeting, she addressed the mindsets of her village members explaining them the benefits of education and the need for equal opportunity at education. This gave her an identity thereby giving her the confidence of stepping out of her house and speaking to people about the benefits of educating girls.

Her work was appreciated and as a part of the Volunteer Engagement program, she was given counseling for her future plan. She expressed a desire to work. Leveraging her strengths, Educate Girls helped her enrol for a job readiness course where her inter-personal communication and computer skills were sharpened. With this enhanced capacities in hand, she got a job at a recognized pizza outlet in Udaipur!

“When I heard the news about Pintu’s job, my happiness knew no bound! She is the first in our family to get a job in the city and earn a living all by herself. I can’t thank Educate Girls enough for guiding her through the entire process. Following her footsteps, now my daughter-in-law also wants to become a Team Balika and work for girls’ education. Pintu has become the role model for the entire village and as a father, nothing makes me prouder!” says Pintu’s father.

Thanks to our partners like Oracle India, Educate Girls has been able to provide training to many of its community volunteers for them to enhance their employability skills.