She looks like any other girl in her slum, but stands out the moment she speaks. The words she uses, the smiles on her face and that confidence, gives a picture that Mayuri is ahead of the other girls – no question about it.
In a context where girls are pushed to early marriages and higher education to them is denied, Mayuri’s big dreams may be hitting the ceiling but she seems determined to rise above those challenges.
'I want to be a police officer', she said, holding to her father’s promise to support her. 'Until I complete my studies, I will never get married', she then decided.
Interestingly, Mayuri is a strong head contrast to her friend and neighbor Jayasri, a school drop out who lives down the road off Mayuri’s home. At eighteen, Jayasri is ready to comply with her elder brother’s wish - who wants to marry her because of economic reasons. 'In cases like this, girls at a tender age do not have to pay high priced dowry. So the girl’s family saves money if they marry off their daughters early ', said Subhash Jherombed, World Vision field staff.
Unlike in the past and because of World Vision’s influence, many parents in Gosavasti do not believe in early marriages and they are now in economic positions to prevent young-girls from getting married. And this trend has helped to keep girl-children in the classrooms.
More than the handouts like school bags, uniforms and cycles, World Vision’s years of effort to educate the slum dwellers on the need to invest on a girl-child has contributed more to the positive paradigm shift seen in the community. 'Those awareness programmes and parents meeting we attended have opened up our minds', said Mayuri’s aunt, Aruna.
For Mayuri, the attitudinal change of her community will help her reach her dream.
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organisation working to create lasting change in the lives of children, families and communities living in poverty and injustice. World Vision serves all people regardless of religion, caste, race, ethnicity or gender.
