From the humble, non-descript village of Kudha, located within the Mohanlalganj block of Lucknow, Vandana's journey stands out as a testament to resilience and determination. A supervisor at a security company, she defies the odds, breaking barriers that society had once imposed upon her.
Hailing from a Scheduled Caste community where societal norms dictated limited aspirations for girls, Vandana's story is one of transformation ignited by the Breakthrough program. In her village, where voices of dissent often drowned out dreams, Breakthrough's community developer became the harbinger of change.Her transition from passive listener to proactive participant marked the beginning of her transformation.
A year ago, Vandana was living in her village, aconventional life after passing her second year of her undergraduate studies. Her parents were planning to find a suitable groom for her. Being the only female among her brothers and cousins, Vandana was adored by everybody and lived under their constant watchful attention. But when Breakthrough program began in her village, her transformation started.
Breakthrough’s community developer started holding sessions and meetings in her village. Vandana would listen attentively to all discussions related to gender equality, significance of education and aspirations. Her interest grew and she became an active participant in the meetings. She would also gather adolescents for the sessions and support the community developer in the sessions. Soon, she got the opportunity to take part in training of Team Change Leaders (TCL’s) organized by Breakthrough.
The training kindled her desire to lead an independent life and take up a job. Just then she got to know about Don Bosco Technical Training Institute in Mohanlalganj which provided free of cost trainings in tele-calling and sales and which also ensured placements. She says, “By now I had realized that I will not be able to make progress in life if I did not step out of my village”. Vandana started negotiating with her parents for permission to attend the seminar. Her brother gave her the permission after asking her about the institute.
After completion of the training, shenegotiated with her parents to be allowed to take up a job in Lucknow. She had got placement at 112 as a tele caller. There was a cab service available. Again, her brother gave his approval because he believed it to be a secure choice for her.
Thereafter she got another job opportunity as supervisor in a security company with higher salary. But for this she needed to travel on her own. Her overprotective brothers were not ready to allow her. But Vandana held several rounds of discussions with them and said, “If Jyoti Didi (Breakthrough community developer) can come from so far to work in our village why can’t I go to work in Lucknow?” After speaking with the HR division of the security firm, her brothers agreed as well, having by now grown to have a great deal of respect for Jyoti and her work.
However, Vandana soon realized that changing 2-3 public transport mediums and travelling to and from Gomti Nagar in Lucknow was extremely time consuming and taxing as well. It was around 40 kms one way. Each day she had to spend 4 hours commuting in addition to the duty hours. She now told her family that she wanted to live in Lucknow and continue her job. It was tough to convince her family for this. But her arguments and the trust her family had in her helped her convince them.
Vandana says, “If Breakthrough program had not started in my village and had Jyoti Didi not come to our village, I wouldn’t have had the courage to take a stand for myself and pursue my aspirations. Now when I go to my village on weekends I also hold discussions with adolescents like Jyoti Didi. I want other girls of my village to pursue their aspirations. I make a special effort to invite adolescents whose parents used to oppose to me working outside the community to the meetings.”
