Veena- An Undaunted Young Tribal Girl

Veena is a tribal youth from Kanbai village of Kherwara block. She is in the 2^nd year of her Bachelors in Arts and hails from a family of farmers. She helps her mother and father with daily chores. She is the first young person from her village to be associated with ALFA. She has been selected as one of the five fellows supported by Centre for Catalyzing Change (C3) through which she is addressing gender inequality in her village by spreading awareness and sensitizing youth about gender discrimination.  

She is an extremely passionate young woman who wishes to put an end to the stereotypes especially associated with gender roles. She is dedicatedly working towards spreading awareness about the importance of education to every girl in her village. After claiming her fellowship from C3, she has formulated a strong group of young people with whom she conducts different activities throughout the month and engages them in issue-based discussions.

“I want to help the society in whatever way possible and eradicate the evil thinking of people. I wish to channelize the thoughts of young people towards constructive practices through which they can help our village towards development. Thanks for providing me the fellowship of C3”, says Veena.

Veena wishes to create active citizens in her village where young people would take the lead and advocate for the issues which have taken a long time from getting addressed by the Panchayat. She aspires to become a teacher so that she can enlighten the path of coming generation with positive thoughts from the beginning and make them informed citizen.

“I discovered that ALFA promotes the environment of working together and provides a platform to young people to voice their concerns and ideas openly without being judged. It is true to its name, Sanjha Manch. I am happy that I am associated with ALFA.”

-          Veena, Youth Volunteer and C3 Fellow, Kanbai 

Action in the field!

Two of the fellows, Priya and Krishna, working under the project of Centre for Catalyzing Change (C3), together conducted a meeting of young people aged between 15 and 20 years. C3 is funding ALFA to foster quality education in Kherwara block of Udaipur district through connecting children who are deprived of education with the schools, enrolling back the dropped out students to the formal institutions, strengthening quality education in the existing schools and promoting creative learning outside the school campus.

The fellows explained the youth the importance of having some aspirations in life and then the continuous efforts to achieve those dreams. They discussed with the youth how education and schools play a huge role in achieving what you desire and to become independent. They cited many examples from their own surroundings to explain the benefits of proper education. They especially urged females and motivated them by giving a live example of Krishna who received a scholarship for higher studies along with a laptop and scooty as she qualified the state board examination with distinction. This motivated the youth who expressed their interests to pursue education by sharing the problems they face. The meeting culminated by conducting a fun activity with the youth which everyone enjoyed and promised to come in other gatherings too where the discussion will be more two-way.

New member in ALFA family

It all began a long time ago. Munis Makrani is a valuable addition to our team who knows ALFA from top to bottom. Started his journey as a local volunteer in 2010, he got involved in all the interventions and programs of Sanjha Manch, community name of ALFA. Munis, one of the survivors of Godhra riots, fled to Rajasthan with his family to escape the communal barbarity of 2002 while he was a small kid. Since then he has been brought up in Karawara village of Kherwara block, Udaipur.

He used to come to ALFA to chill out and spend time with volunteers who came from different parts of the world. Gradually as he grew up, he became sensitive to Hindu Muslim conflicts and opposed violence and discrimination on the grounds of caste and religion. His engagement with ALFA got deeper and he immersed himself in spreading the message of peace and love among diverse communities. He was one of the very active and passionate youth volunteers of ALFA. He attended various workshops and training organized by ALFA and has been to different parts of India to learn more about different ways and perspectives to approach the problems of society. He has been to various internships and became Youth Facilitator after undergoing a long journey with the organization. He conducted computer classes of local youth and has also worked in the past with us for a short period of 3 months while he was studying in University.

"I worked on the ground on grave issues of the community with ALFA. I feel proud to be associated with the organization due to which I was able to realize my dream of becoming a teacher. Even with my current profile, I will be engaged with children imparting quality education and creative learning." 

-Munis Makrani

It is a pleasure to have him back on the board. 😊