sainas perseverance helped her reclaim her life

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sainas perseverance helped her reclaim her life

• Saina is a confident young lady who makes a
  living as a beautician. She has hopes of setting
  up her own beauty parlour in the future. Her
  ambitions about the future were never so assured
  in the past though.
• I think I was 3 or 4 years old when I heard the
  first comments from a relative, ironically also a
  female. She was lamenting that my mother had
  three daughters and that was such a huge burden.
  My poor mother was bending her head as if it was
  her fault, says Saina, who has two sisters and
  two brothers. Her father, a painter, barely
  earned enough to feed his family of seven and her
  mother was constantly on her feet to ensure some
  semblance of order in their severely
  underprivileged life.
• Ive seen my mother drinking water because there
  was nothing left for her after feeding us. I
  would ask her why she didnt eat along with us
  and she would say she wasnt hungry or at times
  that she had an upset stomach. At that age, I
  believed her. As I grew up, I understood the real
  reason. After that, whenever she said she wasnt
  hungry, my sisters and I would also say we
  werent hungry. We wouldnt eat until she joined
  us.

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• Life went on as it did in the household. As Saina
  and her sisters grew, other issues started to
  arise. Everybody would scare my mother saying
  that good looking girls needed to be kept in
  control or they would bring disgrace to the
  family. While my brothers passed their exams with
  great difficulty, we scored high marks and passed
  our school final exams with a good percentage. We
  would help our mother with household chores and
  then study. Whereas our brothers just had to
  focus on their studies. Yet, we girls were not
  allowed to go to college after we completed Class
  XII. My younger sisters were still in school and
  I was getting restless. I was itching to do
  something constructive. I couldnt pressurise my
  parents to send me to college because I knew the
  financial situation. But I wanted to do
  something, find some way to make my life better
  by doing something productive with my free time.
  Thats when the Saksham mobilisation team knocked
  on our door. When I heard what they had to say,
  it felt like God had answered my prayers. They
  convinced my parents that they should let me
  pursue what I wanted. It was an easy decision for
  them to make in the end since it was free and
  included a class that was exclusively for girls,
  including finding employment in a company that
  was for women.

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• Life dramatically changed for Saina when she
  enrolled in the project in October 2017 for the
  beauticians course. I was timid to begin with.
  I would barely raise my head leave alone look
  into the eyes of people I spoke to. But Saksham
  brought me out of my shell. Gradually, I opened
  up as I began following their instructions and
  advice. I put my heart and mind into the course
  and passed with good marks because I knew this
  was my chance to build my life.
• Saina now works as a beautician and earns INR
  10,000 a month. My mother was my only support
  and now shes extremely proud of me. I want to do
  well in my career and give everything to my
  parents and my sisters that I never had. Im
  focussed on my work and achieving everything I
  dreamt of. During my training, I also learned to
  manage my time and money. It gave me a lot of
  clarity. I see myself owning a successful beauty
  parlour in the future. Until then, I told my
  parents I am not interested in marriage. I
  reclaimed my life thanks to the Saksham
  programme. Life seems normal now. I feel lighter
  and more in control of my circumstances. Now, I
  feel good about being a girl. I have no words to
  express my gratitude.

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• https//www.planindia.org/