Motin’s shy smile spreads into a wide grin, as the claps get louder, the spotlight firmly on her as she faces an eager audience at the Washington DC Gala. Questions on her background, life as a young girl, why she chose to educate herself, her transformation after she passed with flying colors and many others were fielded with confidence and grit.
Not many would get such an honor to engage and share with the crowds a story of hope and determination.
Motin is one of the many young girls in Chhattisgarh who was convinced that a second chance with Education would help her break the cycle of hopelessness and despair. Today she is the face of the POSE Program, a confident, tell it all attitude and waiting to discover more things that will make way in her journey to take control of her life and her future.
Born into a family holding very little land, and with many mouths to feed her parents forced her to drop school and help out in the farm like many other children in the underserved communities in the rural heartlands of Chhattisgarh. Soon she was married. Things got worse in her new home. Each day ended with torture and disrespect that she decided to end her marriage and move back with her parents. Returning to her maternal home meant helping the family to feed themselves every single day.
Days passed and one day she met volunteers of Pratham who were in the villages to inform them of Pratham’s Second Chance program. A little hesitant at first Motin got drawn to the extensive systematic and holistic nature of the program with some motivation from Ms Takeen, the village Sarpanch. She realized that Education was the only path to achieve a few goals that she had started thinking on. The next 12 months saw her bettering her foundation skills and learning the Board curriculum with ease. She cleared the exams with 71%.
One thing led to another and in 2015, sufficiently motivated to better herself , she enrolled in a beauty skills course under the Prime Minister’s ‘Kaushal Prashikshan Yojana’ while working as a Warden at the POSW Hub Centre at Balod.
Today Motin, a confident woman, has erased her past from her memory. The only memory that haunts her is her decision of returning to education. This has been the turning point in her life. Hard work and clear goals have helped her to surmount her troubles. Today she is employed as a Warden of Bedside Assistance Skilling Centre in Raipur and determined to do more.
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