“Mere aadmi se kuchho nahi hoga” (My husband won’t be able to do anything). As she says this, the smile on her face is wide. Being in her 40s, Soni grins frequently and her presence makes the environment invigorated. She recalls that, today the community approaches her and respects her for her digital knowledge. But earlier, this was not the case. When Soni was 17 years old and had just passed her matric exams, she was married off to a man who was illiterate. Coming from an OBC family, financial stress and inaccessibility to information about education and career were inevitable. The daily struggle for money left Soni with no option other than to step out in search of work.
In 2006, she met a community mobiliser associated with Mahila Samakhya, whose team she joined. In the initial phases, she was assigned to work with Bal Mitra and she has never looked back. Since she was passionate about her work, she was assigned more and more responsibilities to educate and create awareness about exploitation, gender-based violence, importance of health and education in the community. But when the family came to know about her work rumours and vulgar comments about her, began doing the rounds. Her father-in-law scolded her on many occasions. By using her veil to cover her face, Soni would frequently leave her home and family, to continue working with the community. Over a period of time she completed her intermediate and graduation with good marks and became capable of supporting her family. Today she is a known face in the area and recognised as a digital teacher who teaches the women how to do calculations, use of WhatsApp, Facebook, email, scanning etc. She continues teaching in Applied Digital Saksharta Kendra which was established during the operations of Mahila Samakhya.
Now she proudly says that she has trained over 120 women in three villages and will be moving to the next village very soon to teach another 40 women for three months. Today, even when her husband is not working due to an accident, she is supporting her family and educating her two children who are pursuing their Bachelor’s degree. The elder daughter is now happily married. Soni believes that anyone can learn things by commitment, but it is more satisfying if we could help others to learn and grow.