In 2017, at the age of 20, Tanu stepped out as yet another individual forced to accept the mandate which confined her to her mother’s reflected life; she began working at Kothis and collecting garbage from the adjacent areas.
When we met Shabnam ji, during one of our camps at Santosh Nagar, Faridabad, we found in her, a lady, who, having faced the injustices of life herself, catered in her heart, a tenderness for those who suffered a similar fate. Upon getting to know about “Utthaan”, she saw in it a ray of hope for herself and her people. She has been volunteering as “Utthaan Sahayak” since.
She began embracing our company, especially one of our community mobilizers, Indu ji. As conversations were exchanged, experiences were shared, one day she confined her concern revolving around the fear of witnessing her daughter, Tanu, being confronted with the evils she had to deal with regularly and the wish of sighting her daughter harbouring the opportunities of attaining education, but the hopeless image of her finances and daily subsistence brought her back to the harsh realities of her life.
Being impacted by these conversations, Indu ji resolved to meet Tanu and make an attempt at counselling her father. As she briefed him about the Utthaan initiative and how she met Shabnam ji, in an almost miraculous shift of events directed by Indu Ji’s constant efforts aided with the convenience provided by concepts like distance learning and the social protection given to him and his family of various government schemes comprising of health security, food security and financial security under Utthaan, led to mould his
perspective and nurtured a broader perspective on things.
In May 2024, Tanu took admission in class 12 under “National Institute of Open Schooling” (NOIS) and is pursuing Arts currently. For a comprehensive development and to broaden the horizons of future opportunities, Indu ji also enrolled her in a 40 days Computer Course, this July. Now, braced with the assistance of her educational qualifications she is employed in Flipkart, at Ballabhgarh, as a Technical
Assistant.
Henceforth, in Tanu’s story, her knight in shining armour, was not one person but the cumulative efforts of team CEGP, backed by “Utthaan” and initiative of UNDP India and Coca-Cola India
