Message from the President
A recent success story from the Laadli Empowerment and Primary Education Centers brought together so much that is powerful about Sambhali Trust’s programs.
Shereen with Asha Bhati, teacher at Laadli Empowerment Center and Primary Education Center“Here I want to share about beginner class student Prem* whose husband is a mine worker. They have six kids, of which three attend our Primary Education Center and two others go to the Empowerment Center with their mother. They live in a kaccha (flimsy) house on a hill area. They do not have water or electricity in their house, so Prem has to come down to bring water to her home and she is facing lots of problem in her daily life. She is also suffering from domestic violence from her husband. His behavior is not good towards her. He often abuses and beats her, and he is against her coming to the center. I counseled him and explained about our work and if his wife learns here then what benefits they will get. I talked to him that his actions towards his wife are not good and if he continues this we can take legal actions toward him. So now he has made changes in his behavior and for now everything is good, and Prem is happy for that. Her two daughters are also learning in our center. Both are good in sewing so we advised them to join Sambhali Dastakar. ”
This story, written by Laadli teacher Asha Bhati, beautifully illustrates the Sambhali Trust’s holistic approach to the women and girls it serves.
“Holistic” can be overused, but this definition of the word seems to describe Sambhali well: “Characterized by comprehension of the parts of something as intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole.”
The beating heart of Sambhali lives in those connections—for this family, it began with the Empowerment Centers for women and adolescent girls and the Primary Education Centers for children, then expanded to the Nirbhaya gender-based violence project, and then to Sambhali Dastakar where graduates of the Empowerment Centers can continue to improve their sewing skills, earn income, and grow sisterhood.
A key part of this integrated approach is a deep and abiding belief in the strengths of those who come to Sambhali to participate in its programs. In the story above, this is shown by the recommendation that the daughters continue with Sambhali Dastakar. This belief is evident throughout Sambhali Trust programs, where many of the staff began either as volunteers or students. Today they are teaching Hindi, English, math, and sewing to others in their community and helping children like their own to enter and thrive in school. They are running Sambhali Trust programs and adding their voices as Sambhali plans its future. Simply put, Sambhali Trust recognizes the importance of their leadership.
Yet, as I spoke to these powerful women on Sambhali Trust’s staff—women who loudly lead chants at marches, who multi-task in three languages, who stand up for women facing abuse—the word they used most often to describe themselves before they came to Sambhali surprised me. It was “shy.” They described how they found their voices through Sambhali Trust and why it means so much to them to be a part of other women and girls finding theirs. Sambhali is not just about learning skills or gaining an education—as important as that is—it’s equally about gaining confidence. Sambhali believes in the people it serves and they have come to believe in themselves.
There is no more beautiful example than Sambhali’s two youngest teachers, Tara and Malika. Both came to Sambhali Trust’s Sheerni Boarding home as young girls to escape lives of early marriage and bare literacy. A decade later, both are living at the Trust’s Abhayasthali Boarding Home while attending college, Tara is studying accounting while Malika focuses on the sciences with a goal of being a doctor. In the afternoons they transform from students to teachers working at the Fatima and Abhivyakti Primary Education Centers.
Shy no longer, they confidently join with other Sambhali women who understand that Sambhali can only be fully understood by knowing the whole.
Wishing that the remaining days of summer bring you glorious moments to see the connections in life, to feel the sun on your face, and to realize my gratitude for all you have done to support the amazing women and girls of Sambhali Trust.
Shereen Arent
President, Sambhali U.S.
*Some names of participants have been changed.
