In honor of Women's Day on March 8 2010, this month our newsletter will feature the profiles of five influential women of Deep Griha.

Pramila

At 15, Pramila began working to support herself through school; picking up odd jobs in construction and cooking and cleaning in people’s homes.  In 1992 she received a Bachelor’s in Commerce and worked for several corporations before beginning work with Deep Griha in 2000.

For five years Pramila taught post-literacy classes to women from the Tadiwala community.  She says that in those days her life was limited to worrying about home and teaching the women.  In 2005 she was recruited by Hans Billimoria to begin working with Deep Griha’s then nascent DISHA programme (Deep Griha’s Integrated Services for HIV and AIDS).

Working with DISHA had a profound effect on Pramila.  It opened up her world.  She says that when she began working with our HIV+ and HIV affected clients, she began to think about people other than herself.  She gained perspective on her own life and began to relax.  For her first two years with DISHA, Pramila supervised the nutrition programme.  After having proved herself resourceful, dependable and excellent with people, Pramila took on many new responsibilities, including supervising staff and financial documentation for the project.

Since working with DISHA, Pramila has earned a Masters in Social Work.  She has two children: Nikita, aged 15, and Shubham, aged 13.  Pramila would like to thank her parents for her education.

Alice and Amy

Alice and Amy have been volunteering with Deep Griha for about three weeks.  Both of them graduated high-school in London in June and have come to India on gap year travels.  Alice’s mother came to know Deep Griha when she interviewed Dr. Onawale in 2003 regarding children with cleft palettes.  When Alice decided to come to India, her mother told her that she absolutely must visit Deep Griha.  Alice and Amy decided to devote a month of their travels to helping out and learning from Deep Griha.

Both of them have stayed busy since arriving; splitting their time between working with the children in the crèches and helping out with the Wake Up Pune campaign.  They have prepared posters for our candle-light vigil in May, done HIV awareness outreach, and attended a trucker’s programme with the DISHA team.

Both Alice and Amy plan to attend university in Manchester in the fall and study Drama.  We hope to utilize their acting skills before they leave by having them help us polish our street-theatre and come up with interesting and fun acting games for our workshops.

Rajashri

Rajashri studied until 10th standard in Mumbai and then began working.  In 2001 she got married and moved to Pune.  In 2004 she got her own house in the Tadiwala slum.  Her relationship with her family became strained after she was married.  Her husband had an alcohol problem and because his family disliked him, they began to look down on her as well.  In 2008, her husband passed away.

At only 28 years old, she became a widow with two daughters, aged 4 and 1 at the time.  She did not want to return to her parents in Mumbai and received no support from her husband’s family so she set out to prove that she could provide for her family on her own.  She got a job at a housing society as a domestic servant but was paid only 400 rupees a month ($8) which was not nearly enough to take care of herself and her daughters.  Her neighbour’s daughter in Tadiwala was part of Deep Griha’s Aadhar Kendra programme (child sponsorship).  Her neighbour was also a young widow.  Through her neighbour she got in contact with Deep Griha and asked for a job.  After only 1 day of filling in for someone else, she was employed full time at Deep Griha.

Rajashri says her daughters are what give her life meaning.  Even though she doesn’t have much, she will do everything in her power to give her daughters every opportunity.  She wants her daughters to see that a woman can take care of herself and live with dignity despite all the obstacles.

Bismilla

When Bismilla was 1 year old her father passed away.  At 4 years old she became a beneficiary of Aadhar Kendra, Deep Griha’s child-sponsorship programme.  Through Aadhar Kendra, Bismilla was educated up to the 10th standard and received all the other benefits of being sponsored, including nutrition and medical check-ups.

Bismilla wanted to continue her education beyond 10th standard, but her mother was worried about her being home alone in the slums, as it can be quite dangerous for young women.  So she was married at 15.  She and her husband moved to Solapur for work, but after two years returned to Pune because of problems with farming.

At 23, Bismilla began working for Deep Griha.  She says that since she was a little girl, Deep Griha has been her maher (an affectionate term which literally means ‘mother’s home’) and she is very happy to finally work here.  Because of the additional income, Bismilla and her husband were recently able to purchase their own home in the Tadiwala slum.  Bismilla has continued her education, recently completing the 12th standard, and hopes to continue.

For the last two years she has worked for Sure Start, Deep Griha’s maternal and neo-natal health programme.  She is a field worker and responsible for checking in with pregnant women in the community, ensuring that they get regular check-ups, and educating them on how to adjust their diet for pregnancy. Bismilla has a 9 year old son and a 6 year old daughter.