"At Phulgaon and Tulapur, villages, SI Pune
Metro East (SIPME) has run a medical outreach project for several years now. It has
become a centre for the village women to meet the Soroptimist doctor, not only
for medical problems but for just about every other issue that they encounter.
In the course of this rapport the Soroptimists have been able empower the women
with a new progressive outlook.

Meet two women who are not achievers by any
measure. They will not figure in success story reports. Literacy has by passed them,
poverty has been at their doorsteps their lives are of struggle, deprivation
and often hopelessness. But they have braved all odds to change the course of
their daughters’ lives. Their sacrifices have secured the future of the girls.

Ratan
Sheole is a typical farm woman, so is her dismal
situation. Her farm yields little and her husband hasn’t had regular work for
the last 24 years. She has managed to keep the home fires burning by working
hard at her farm and providing for her two daughters and a son. Her one aim; to
educate her daughters and change their lives. Both the girls excelled at
school, working on the land in their holidays. As persevering students they
received very positive support from their teachers. The elder girl went on  to college in Pune city 30 miles away. Despite
the many adversities, she excelled in the Hotel Management course that she was
selected for, training in Singapore. Ujwala is the younger daughter who worked
hard in school to get admission into a good Pune Commerce college. Here she lives
in a girls hostel meant for rural women, subsisting on one meal a day. Motivated
by her mother, she enrolled in a CA Degree and then CWA (Cost and Works
Accountancy). Here SIPME stepped in and for its new education project will
support Ujwala to complete her degree. 
Ratan proudly adds, “I have had several offers from good families of the
village for my daughters, but my condition was that the girls would be allowed
to continue studying after marriage, for which they did not agree”. For an
unlettered village woman this is a revolutionary thought, for SIPME a moment of
satisfaction.

 

Photo:  Ratan
Sheole

Ulhas
Tai’s life is material for a thought provoking film.
At 50 years she has worn out hands and feet that have tilled a barren piece of
land, but a steely determination shines from her tired eyes. Her farmer
husband’s first wife died leaving 3 girls and a boy, so the family remarried
him to Ulhas. She did not have any children of her own, so he took another
wife. In a family dispute over land he was attacked and left paralyzed. Ulhas
took charge of the children, cared for him and his new wife. She was determined
simply to educate the three girls and the son and give them an empowered future.
Ulhas’ trials and tribulations have not ended, but she has achieved her goal – All
the children have been educated and hold responsible professional jobs. Most
importantly the children respect her and acknowledge her contribution to their
present progress. Says Ulhas, “The village community is envious of our
advancement, and there are constant obstacles, but I’m sure we will marry the
girls to educated boys.” She adds, “ I have grown up in this village and seen
the selfless work the social workers and you all do here, so I have learnt to
work selflessly.  My greatest joy is that the girls are educated and
self-sufficient. You know your Soroptimist doctor doesn’t only give us medicine,
even speaking and advising us is an empowering thing”.

 

Photo:  Ulhas
Tai

Though SIPME members have given much to the women in that community,
what SIPME has received from women like Ratan and Ulhas Tai is a lesson in
humility. Such lessons are priceless".

NISHA GHOSH, PRESS AND PUBLICITY OFFICER, SI PUNE METRO EAST.