On International Women’s Day we would like to introduce you to the strong and great women in our organisation who create a change for our communities. These are especially our great teachers form the Youth Empowerment Program (YEP) and the English Language Support Program (ELS).

Today we would like to tell you more about Jyoti, Shabana, Sangeeta, Nazia and Lakshmi.

Jyoti just finished her fourth batch with the YEP and is very happy with her task. She likes to be part of creating a change in the lives of the young students and the community. The mother of two girls did her master in Social Work and worked for other NGOs before but now for the first time as a full time teacher. She has to travel from very far north of Mumbai every day to get to the Community Centre but she thinks to work for Reality Gives is worth it.

Shabana graduated in the Youth Empowerment Program in January 2011 before she started a training to a teacher herself. Just after one batch training she started as a computer teacher for the Youth Empowerment Program and the evening computer classes.Since then she became much more open-mind and self-confident. Her English and presentation skills have become very good. She says she loves to teach and be together with young people from her neighborhood. She is very ambitious and wants to learn more in the IT-subject like web design and Java.

Sangeeta participated in the Youth Empowerment Program in 2011. After she graduated she wanted to stay involved with Reality Gives and started a training at the Community Centre to become a soft skills teacher. She also helps out at the nutrition program at the Community Centre. Since she works for Reality Gives, she says, she developed a lot: her English and presentation skills improved and she is less shy. Sangeeta has a six years old son and lives on 90 feet Rd in Dharavi.

Nazia is responsible for the library program of Reality Gives since August 2012. Every evening from 4.30 until 7pm (often longer) she helps kids and grown-ups to learn how to read and write and improve their English skills. Some of her students would like to participate in the YEP soon and need to learn basic English skills first. She also plays board games or paints with the kids. Nazia finished her 12th standard and says her favorite book is Harry Potter.

Lakshmi works for Reality Gives since 2010 when she started to train our teachers for our Kindergarten Program. After we have closed the Balwadi in 2011 she is responsible for the English Language Program and heads the ten teachers who work in the project. Initially she was teaching education for young children at a college but as soon as her son was born she stayed home to be there for his personal development. When he reached an age of 12 years she started working for our partner organisation Muktangan to also train teachers from underprivileged backgrounds. She says she loves to work with kids, to listen to their questions, interact with them and see them to be eager to gain knowledge. She says: “Teaching is love. Kids are so easy to please and it’s so much fun to make them express themselves in our activities. It makes me happy when they learned important values in a playful way.” About Reality Gives she loves that there is a flat hierarchy and she can work independent and creative. The ten female teachers she is working with are very keen on learning as well. She likes to get the chance to look at every child’s development in detail. Mujassum says about Lakshmi that “she is a role model for every teacher at Reality Gives.”