DHARMA LIFE
Saifali Satyam, Bhalarh, Munger
My name is Saifali Satyam, I live with my family in a small village called Bhalarh in Munger. The village is remotely located with various challenges. One has to walk for 2 km to get a tempo and travel for 10 km to reach the market. Life is very challenging for us.
I got married when I was only 14 years old and had just completed matriculation. When I came to my husband’s house (Sasural in Hindi), the expectations of the family from me were very high. My husband was not doing anything at that time as he was not qualified to get any job. For this reason, I had to take a lot of responsibilities single handedly. Our family’s financial condition was not good. We had a small farm land and crop production depended heavily on rains.
Soon, I gave birth to my first child. While I was thrilled to have a child, I was worried since we had very less resources to raise him. He started getting sick often and we had no money for his medication. At the age of 2 years, he passed away because of high fever. I begged and cried but could not save his life because of our financial situation. My husband was still not working to support the family. Sometimes, he would go to the field to do some work. But running the family was getting more difficult with each passing day.
I wanted to do something to earn some money. When I shared this desire with the family, no one extended support to me as we are Rajputs, an upper class in society. For them it was about their pride and prestige to not let a woman work. Till then, no Rajputi woman had ever stepped out of the house to work.
I convinced my husband to let me study further. He agreed and I completed high school. I gave birth to another child. This time, I didn’t want my child to die because of lack of money. With a lot of difficulty, I convinced my husband and family to let me do some work.
Back in my maiden house, I had learnt some sewing and beautician work along with school. But to start anything professionally, I needed some practice. So, I took permission from my family to stay in my maiden house in Jamalpur for two months. In that time, I learnt sewing and pursued a beautician course. At the end of two months, my father gifted me a sewing machine. I was very happy. I came back to my husband’s house and started working at home. People started coming to my place for both tailor and beautician work. As my customers increased, it started becoming difficult for me to work at home. That’s when I decided to open my shop, a small Gumti (small shop). People in the village started calling me tailor bhabhi. I started earning some money for my family but our condition was still not good. I gave birth to my third baby. My responsibilities kept increasing day by day. Meanwhile, I started getting good support from my husband.
One day, some people from my community burnt down my Gumti. They said I was doing something wrong since women in our community did not work. I was again back to the start – struggling to restart my shop. I decided I will start work at an even bigger space. I re-opened my shop and since then, our condition started slowly improving. But I still wanted to do more for my family and for my community.
In April 2015, I met a Dharma Life volunteer and my life changed. He told me about the challenges that people in my village were facing and how I can make a change in my community. The work Dharma Life did perfectly matched what I had been wanting to do. That started my journey with Dharma Life. I started working as a women DLE. I got Saksham training and got introduced to the MPN programme. I met and interacted with many people and all this reignited my enthusiasm to work.
I started working towards generating awareness on rural issues and started keeping products like sanitary napkins and solar lights in my shop. I feel only a woman can understand what happens during menstruation. I started talking to women and school-going girls in my beauty parlour. I made them understand the benefits of using sanitary napkins over cloth and other alternatives. School going girls and women who came to my shop and house slowly started demanding sanitary napkins.
A few months back, a campaign called Vitol started. It helped me pursue my dream to teach children in my village. Under the campaign, I conducted handwash and female hygiene sessions in more than 16 schools. The campaign helped me achieve a lot. I started earning respect from children, teachers, women and others in the community; conducting these sessions helped me earn Rs 10,000 which is a good amount for me. Also, these activities resulted in a tremendous increase in demand for sanitary napkins.
Currently I run Gup Shup sessions in my community wherein I talk to people on female hygiene and other issues such as clean drinking water, clean energy, indoor air pollution, education, nutrition, etc. As a result of these sessions, the demand for solar lights and water purifiers is increasing in my village.
Dharma life has given me an identity for myself which I have been looking for since years. Today students who come to my house and shop to buy sanitary napkins ask me to come to their schools and take sessions. It has given me recognition and a medium of income for my family. It is because of this newly found identity that I am called ma’am instead of a tailor and I have been able to stand up against all the wrong that happened to me because of caste and gender. I believe I am an example for many more women who want to make a living and a difference to society. I am grateful to Dharma Life and MPN programe for changing my life.
Jitendra Prasad, Dharhara, Munger
My name is Jitendra Prasad. I live in village Dharhara which is 35 km away from Munger. I am a farmer by profession. I live with my family with 8 other members – mother, father, wife, two daughters and three sons. Both my daughters are in school, one is in Intermediate and the other is in matriculation.
My wife has studied till intermediate level. When we got married, she wanted to do some work but started taking family responsibilities very soon. She took care of the family and simultaneously helped me in the field during crop season.
One day, a young boy came to our village. My friend and I were sitting playing cards. He said he wanted to talk to us regarding menstrual hygiene. We were hesitant and uncomfortable since we had never spoken about these things before. But he insisted we talk. He told us about why our wives menstruate, why they must use sanitary napkins, what can be the consequences of poor menstrual hygiene etc. They were things I had never thought about.
I went home that day and decided to talk to my wife. While I was telling her what all the boy told me, she said she has attended one such meeting in the past and was aware of all these things. Although she had never asked me for money to buy sanitary napkins, she somehow managed to buy them for our daughters. I felt ashamed, I felt I had done nothing to ensure that my wife and daughters stay healthy and my wife had been taking care of it all by herself.
After a few days, a Dharma life representative was looking for a woman in the village who wanted to do business and serve the society at the same time. Sarpanchji gave him the address of my home. That day was a very important day in our lives. He told us about the MPN programme, how one can earn money by selling sanitary napkins as well as spreading awareness about female hygiene in the community. My wife was very enthusiastic about this prospect. Soon, she became a part of the Dharma Life team in our village. She got training and started working as a woman DLE. She started stocking sanitary napkins at home for sale. At the same time, she started taking sessions with villagers to generate awareness on clean water, clean energy, indoor air pollution, health and hygiene.
Gradually more and more women started attending her sessions and started taking interest in the topic of menstrual hygiene. Dharma Life gave her an opportunity to interact with school-going girls. It was an opportunity to fulfill her dream to make a positive change to the young lives in the village.
My wife has been responsible for bringing a lot of change to our family and home. The first thing she asked me to do was to get a toilet constructed at home. I liked the idea but didn’t have enough money at that point of time. My wife surprised me by giving me Rs 4000 for construction! This was the money she had earned from conducting Dharma Life sessions in schools as well as from sale of sanitary napkins. We got the toilet constructed and it made my family very happy. They no longer have to step out of the house every time they want to defecate. Today, more than 30% households in my village have a toilet in their home. I give full credit to my wife and Sarpanchji for playing a vitol role in bringing about this change.
I am very proud of my wife for the way she is grooming our children and taking care of the family. She has become a more confident person than before as she has started getting out of the house and interacting with so many people. She has become a very strong candidate for Panchayat election for Gram Panchayat Sadasya (Panchayat member). This is the change Dharma Life has brought in our lives and I am very happy about it.
Rajesh Rajat, Matadih, Munger
My name is Rajesh Rajat. I am the Sarpanch in village Matadih in Munger. I met a Dharma life volunteer for the first time in April 2015. He met me and told me about Dharma Life, the MPN programme and the changes they want to bring about in my village. They were looking for a woman who wanted to start a business of her own, who is known in the village and has a good reputation. I decided Babli Devi was the perfect person to contact.
I was a part of the meeting conducted by BVHA, when they were planning to start activities on menstrual awareness in the village. It was a very interesting meeting. We spoke about the importance of menstrual hygiene, stigma and superstitions related to menstruation in society, restrictions imposed on women, etc. I was so impressed with the discussions, I personally asked people to participate in the program.
When I look back today, I can see the difference that MPN has brought about in my village. Earlier, most of women in the village went outside their homes to defecate. Now, women are asking their families to build toilets at home. Today, more than 40% villagers have toilets in their homes.
Let me tell you about my family. My sister is doing graduation and my daughter is in 7th class in school. During school, my sister had to miss classes during menstruation but I could not do much for her at that time because we were not aware of sanitary napkins. However, now that we are more aware, I can feel the pain that a girl goes through when she doesn’t go to school during menstruation. I will now do everything for my daughter and my family to keep them healthy and not miss out on doing anything because of menstruation.
Sanitary napkins are now available in my village through DLE Babli Devi. She is now a favorite amongst the village women and girls as she has made their lives healthier, more hygienic and easier.
I feel so proud and happy that Dharma Life and MPN programme has brought so much awareness in my village and has resulted in such good intervention in age old habits. Going forward, I think more such sessions related to health and hygiene must take place in our village on a regular basis. Only then will there be 100% change in habits and in our lives.
Happy Dharma Life Customer
Sweta, Amari, Munger
My name is Sweta. I live in Amari, Munger with my family. I am a student of 9th standard. When I grow up, I want to be a police officer.
The first time I felt something happening to me was when I was in 7th standard. I was playing kabbadi with my friends and I started bleeding. I got really scared, I thought something was happening to me and I started crying. I thought I had injured myself very badly. I didn’t tell anyone in the fear of getting scolded. I didn’t know what to say and to whom. I went home and went to bed without eating or talking to anyone. Later in the night, my mother came up to me to ask if I was alright. I told her what had happened to me earlier in the day. She was angry and hesitant to talk. She asked me to not discuss it with anyone. Discreetly, she gave me a piece of cloth and asked me to wear it. The next day, while I was going to throw the dirty cloth, my mother saw it and asked me to wash it, put it to dry and reuse it. I didn’t know where to dry it. So, I put it inside the folds of another garment and dried it.
For the next five days, I didn’t go to school. Everyone at home kept asking me why I wasn’t going to school but I did not tell anyone. Finally, I spoke to my friend Gita and told her about what had happened. She told me she had also started menstruating some time back and used to use cloth. I felt better after talking to her and using cloth every month became a habit. I had not heard about sanitary napkins at that time. It became usual for me to not attend school during my period. All my friends used cloth and we all found it a normal practice.
One day, some people from an organization called Restless Development came to our school to talk to us about menstruation. They spoke to us about why we menstruate, what changes our body goes through in that period, the importance of menstrual hygiene, why we should not use cloth and about the use of sanitary napkins. We were pleasantly surprised to know that using sanitary napkins could help us attend school during menstruation! However, there was a problem. We didn’t know how we would arrange for Rs 27 to buy sanitary napkins. I could never dare to ask my mother for it.
Last year in the month of August, a woman came along with our teacher. We were surprised to see her in our class, we all knew her! She was Neelu aunty from our neighboring village. She said she wanted to talk to us about menstruation. She told us a story about a girl called Rani who faced health problems and missed school during menstruation because of using cloth. She then told us how her life changed once she started using sanitary napkins. We all could relate to Rani and felt that it was our story. She told us we must treat menstruation as a boon rather than a curse. We felt comfortable to talk to Neelu aunty since we all knew her.
One of my friends told her that it is very difficult for us girls to go to the market to buy them as the market is far from our houses. To our surprise, Neelu aunty told us that we do not need to travel so far to buy them as we can buy them from her from her house! We told her our mothers would not give us money to buy sanitary napkins. To this, she told us to start saving Re 1 each day. This way, it will not be a burden on our parents.
From that day, I started saving penny by penny and accumulated Rs 25-30 at the end of the month. I could now easily go and buy sanitary napkins from Neelu aunty. I feel great about myself now. I don’t have to miss school anymore because of my menstrual cycle.
I even asked my mother to use sanitary napkin but she refused. I kept convincing her for a long time. I told her how comfortable I feel now and that I don’t get sick very often. She finally got convinced one day and asked me for a napkin. They was so happy with her experience that she told me we will save money for sanitary napkins every month, no matter what! Since December 2015, we both have been using sanitary napkins and it has made us so much healthier.
Today, I feel very comfortable to talk about menstruation and any related problems. I also encourage my juniors in school to start using them. Neelu Aunty has become my friend and I am grateful to her to have brought this change in our lives.
Successful DLE
Pinky Devi, Hasanpur Ranga, Munger
My name is Pinky Devi. I live with my husband and children in Hasanpur Ranga, a small village in Munger. After I got married, for a lot of years, I used to spend my day doing only household chores. I used to feel bad, I thought I was worth doing something more. At that time, we were not very strong financially. I wanted to bring some extra money home and not just be dependent on my husband’s money.
I was looking for an opportunity that would make me do some good work and help me earn money. One day, I met a man from Dharma Life in my village. He told me Dharma Life works on improving the lives in villages by working on issues relating to health, female hygiene, clean energy, clean water, etc. These were issues that I felt were being faced in my village and I wanted to do something about them. He told me that by working towards generating awareness and encouraging people to adopt healthier lifestyle options, I would be able to earn money from sale of products and conducting awareness sessions in my village. I got inspired by their ideas and decided to work with Dharma Life.
In the first month of joining, I got a training called Saksham. In this, they taught us how could do business and how to engage people. Since then, I have been working with the organization and it has been a great experience.
Earlier, I used to get up in the morning and do household chores all day. Once a month when I used to have my menstruation cycle, I used old cotton cloth. I used to remain uncomfortable and feel dirty. Often, I used to get ill and stay indoors throughout the 4-5 days of the cycle. After joining the organization, I don’t stay at home in the afternoon. I go in my village and to other neighbouring villages. I gather 20-25 girls and women, make them sit and talk to them about menstruation, the harmful consequences of poor menstrual hygiene and the use of sanitary napkins. I tell them the infections and diseases that they can get by using cloth or sand and any other alternative. I tell them how keeping ourselves healthy and hygienic will make our lives better and also make the lives of their husband and children better. We, the women of the house play a very important role in our families. If we fall sick, the while house will fall sick. So we have a lot of responsibility on ourselves to stay healthy and take care of everyone else. Also, our daughters will follow what we do, so we need to teach them the importance of good menstrual hygiene. For all these reasons, it is very important for us to use sanitary napkins ourselves.
A lot of woman in villages are aware of sanitary napkins but do not know how to use and dispose them. Also, they don’t know who they should go to in case of queries relating to menstruation. For this purpose, I demonstrate napkin usage and disposal to the women and tell them that they can come to me, both to buy sanitary napkins and for any questions relating to menstruation.
I have been working with Dharma Life for the past 7-8 months. Working with Dharma Life not only makes me feel good but also be respected as an individual in my community. Through sale of sanitary napkins and conducting awareness sessions in mohalla and schools, I am able to earn a good amount of money every month. This money helps my family live a better life and give my children a better future.
Today, people in the village know me by my name and come to me to purchase sanitary napkins and other impact products. Being a DLE makes me happy and feel confident about myself. At the same time, I am able to earn money and bring about a positive change in the society which makes me very happy and satisfied.