Books healed sores of this teen
The Times of India
AHMEDABAD: She is only 17 but already has achieved a larger than life status. Sunita Koli is the fountainhead of academic revival for children of salt workers in Bhachau, Kutch. And, the result is there for all to see: today in the standard XII of Shree Wardhaman Jain Boarding and School in Bhachau, there are 29 girls and 21 boys.
This turnaround of academic fortune of children, especially girls, living in this remote village in Bhachau was triggered by Learning And Migration Programme (LAMP) of American India Foundation (AIF).
After toiling in the harsh conditions of saltpans in Rann of Kutch with her parents and other migrant labourers till age 12, the life of Sunita and two of her friends – Jayashree and Vinita – have showed the way to a better and more studious future. Today, she dreams of becoming a chartered accountant. When she cleared 10{+t}{+h} standard, AIF took her on a visit to the US to celebrate her rare feat.
Sunita said: “Walking in the salt water for hours would cause big sores in my feet. Water was so scarce that we could bathe only twice a week. The hot sun dried my body and left me weak. The pain of those sores was so intense that I would often wonder when I would escape that life.”
Sunita belongs to the Koli community of Kutch in which literacy level is low, and not sending girls to school is a common practice. “As a six-month-old baby, Sunita used to migrate with her mother Labu and father Deva Koli to saltpans. This continued till she was 12 and LAMP intervened. With help of Cohesion Foundation Trust (CFT), we brought Sunita to a seasonal hostel at Juna Kataria village in 2006. Labu, who had studied up till grade VIII, was convinced to become a coordinator of the hostel in the Juna Kataria. This started Sunita’s metamorphosis. Today, she represents an academic resurgence for children, especially girls, in Kutch,” said Smita Agrawal, education director of AIF.
Usha Srivastav of CFT says, “Initially, Sunita was very meek and stayed away from outsiders. She was shy, would not speak. CFT members then intervened and asked her teachers to be patient. Gradually, Sunita bloomed and started enjoying schools. She is today the best speaker of the school and maths and science are her favourite subjects. She loves reading library books and she rattles off names of the ones she likes.”
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