“I may not have been fortunate enough to sit in a classroom, but I ensured that my children get access to education and better career opportunities,” said Munni.
Born to a blind mother, Munni has grown up witnessing absolute poverty and was raised in a poorly built rented shack with no basic amenities.
She lost her parents at a very tender age and was married off. Her marriage brought her to the Asha’s Chanderpuri slum colony. Living in a poverty-stricken orthodox family with an unemployed abusive husband, Munni thought of working outside several times but her in-laws never gave a nod to it. Therefore, she survived on the meagre amount she could pull from stitching clothes.
This was a time when the Asha team member found her confined amongst the four walls of her house. What she saw was a suppressed Munni fidgeting with a ball of wool on one corner of her bed. She was motivated and counselled to take a three months CHV-training at Asha.
From a docile homemaker to a confident and dedicated Community Health Volunteer at Asha, Munni has walked a long way. She not only started her career but life!
Presently, Munni is a SENSATION in her community. She counsels and motivates pregnant ladies for institutional delivery, accompanies them to the hospitals, does antenatal and postnatal care. She has no qualms in visiting the area-police, magistrate or any other government department; you name it and they know her. This is how she has transformed herself.
It was not a day’s deal; it took years for the Asha family and Munni to mould her family, society and make them believe that a woman can also help ‘run a family’.
“I used to hide under a layer of veils, but now I don’t think twice walking across the slum to help the needy. I was merely surviving earlier and now, I am actually living my life,” waves off Munni.
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