prasad1
Active member
Uma Kumari might have once been a child bride at the age of 10, but today, the 17 year old youth is an activist fighting against early marriages in her district, writes Tarannum.
At first glance, she’s your quintessential village girl – quiet, unassuming and hardworking. But Uma Kumari, 17, has distinguished herself in her nondescript village of Badgaon in Siddharth Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh. Together with a handful of adolescents like her, she has been the architect of a campaign against child marriage, a common practice in her district.
Then, about three years ago, she got the opportunity to meet with the volunteers of Shohratgarh Environment Society (SES), a local non-government organisation, who at the time were all set to initiate the Early Marriage and Early Pregnancy (EMEP) prevention project in Jogiya block of Siddharth Nagar. This meeting changed Uma’s life and her views on marriage, sexual health and pregnancy. Her zeal to learn more and also influence many of her friends saw her become a community peer outreach worker. Her main task was to persuade villagers not to get their sons and daughters married before they reached the legal ages of 21 and 18.
Uma has single-handedly had the power of positive peer influence. Not only has she stopped over a dozen child marriages and delayed more than two dozen ‘gauna’s, she has also managed to get the boys to understand this grave issue. But while she is out campaigning she does not miss even a single day of school and has even asked her husband to complete his education. “He is in his first year of graduation and is doing a course in computers alongside. He plans to open up a shop where he can key in data. We could not stop our marriage but now I want to complete my studies and want him to earn before I go to live with him," says, this young crusader and trendsetter, determinedly.
Deccan_Herald
I know some of the members on this site will have problem with the outlook of this Girl, as it is against "our Culture (?)". How can she dare to question the age old wisdom? How can she delay marriage and child bearing (that is the only work for women)?
I just wanted to show that people want to progress and change, you can not stem the tide of social change? You can not put the genie back in the bottle.
At first glance, she’s your quintessential village girl – quiet, unassuming and hardworking. But Uma Kumari, 17, has distinguished herself in her nondescript village of Badgaon in Siddharth Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh. Together with a handful of adolescents like her, she has been the architect of a campaign against child marriage, a common practice in her district.
Then, about three years ago, she got the opportunity to meet with the volunteers of Shohratgarh Environment Society (SES), a local non-government organisation, who at the time were all set to initiate the Early Marriage and Early Pregnancy (EMEP) prevention project in Jogiya block of Siddharth Nagar. This meeting changed Uma’s life and her views on marriage, sexual health and pregnancy. Her zeal to learn more and also influence many of her friends saw her become a community peer outreach worker. Her main task was to persuade villagers not to get their sons and daughters married before they reached the legal ages of 21 and 18.
Uma has single-handedly had the power of positive peer influence. Not only has she stopped over a dozen child marriages and delayed more than two dozen ‘gauna’s, she has also managed to get the boys to understand this grave issue. But while she is out campaigning she does not miss even a single day of school and has even asked her husband to complete his education. “He is in his first year of graduation and is doing a course in computers alongside. He plans to open up a shop where he can key in data. We could not stop our marriage but now I want to complete my studies and want him to earn before I go to live with him," says, this young crusader and trendsetter, determinedly.
Deccan_Herald
I know some of the members on this site will have problem with the outlook of this Girl, as it is against "our Culture (?)". How can she dare to question the age old wisdom? How can she delay marriage and child bearing (that is the only work for women)?
I just wanted to show that people want to progress and change, you can not stem the tide of social change? You can not put the genie back in the bottle.
