Young girls say, ‘I Will Go Out’

Even as feminism continues to be a hot topic of discussion at various conferences and panel discussions, many girls from different sections of society still fight for basic rights such as stepping out due to parental and societal restriction. And for all those little girls who want their voices to be heard, ‘Kehkasha 2018’, which was held on Saturday, aimed at encouraging them to strive for freedom by having solution-oriented conversations amongst representatives of around 94 schools from Mumbai.
‘Kehkasha - A Galaxy of Stars’ is the annual event of Avanti Young Women Leadership Program in Mumbai. Along with The Gender Lab, the foundation works with 13-14 year old students to build leadership skills among adolescent girls by engaging them in community service. The mentors guide these girls in solving issues in their community and creating an impact, through which they also build leadership skills. During the course of this project, several girls faced the issue of not being able to step out of their houses and as an attempt to combat the problem, the theme for the event this year was #IWillGoOut. Talking about the event, Ayushi Banerji, the brain behind The Gender Lab, said, “We want to empower young minds and so, we work with girls and boys from different schools so they can discover their leadership skills through experiential learning. For us, it’s not just about conversations but coming up with solutions.”

On Saturday, several girls along with their parents, teachers, principals and mentors came together to take part in events revolving around the theme in accordance with the safety issues that spring up in a their life. Conducted by various NGOs, various workshops sent across strong messages through different games, sharing circles, dialogue, art, etc. Jayanti Mishra, a class eight student of Don Bosco School and a participant at the event, said, “My project was on disposing sanitary napkins in the school washrooms. We educated girls from class eight and nine, and they agreed on cooperating with us. Together, we stocked newspapers in washrooms, so girls could dispose it off and maintain the hygiene.” Shruti Shelkar, another 13-year-old student from Cosmos High School, said, “The area around my school and home had a dustbin where people would throw garbage anywhere except the bin. We went to each house in the vicinity and handed over a ‘Promise Card’ asking the residents to safely dispose the garbage and also highlighted the benefits of doing so.”

In the second half of the event, mountaineers Tashi and Nungshi Malik shared their story of scaling heights – literally as well as metaphorically – with the girls. The two are the first siblings and twins to climb the Seven Summits and reach the North and South Poles and complete the Adventurers Grand Slam and Three Poles Challenge. The young girls also posed them with questions on courage, perseverance and asked them to share a few tips.