{"id":2849,"date":"2019-04-09T12:15:20","date_gmt":"2019-04-09T06:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.educategirls.ngo\/?p=2849"},"modified":"2023-09-05T10:32:16","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T05:02:16","slug":"educate-a-girl-to-ensure-better-health-and-hygiene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.educategirls.ngo\/blog\/educate-a-girl-to-ensure-better-health-and-hygiene\/","title":{"rendered":"Educate A Girl To Ensure Better Health And Hygiene"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

14-year old Sanjana* lives with\nher parents and 2 younger brothers in a village in Ajmer, India, situated in\nclose vicinity to stone mining grounds. Sanjana\u2019s home, just like the others,\nis perpetually covered in a thin sheet of white sand – particulates of stone\nthat seem to constantly be in the air, settling on every surface in the area. Sanjana\u2019s\nfather works as a laborer and they manage to plant just enough in a small patch\nof land to be able to sell it and earn some money. However, for the most part\nthe family struggles to make ends meet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sanjana went to the primary school in her village until 5th<\/sup> Grade. Upper primary school was located in another village, 3 kilometers away. Travel to this the upper primary school meant not just a long walk but also trekking through an area of land overgrown with trees and tangled vegetation, much like a jungle. So naturally, her parents worried about their adolescent daughter\u2019s safety and it was easier for them to have her stay back at home. There were two other girls Sanjana\u2019s age who had dropped out after 5th<\/sup> grade for the same reason.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2016, Field Coordinator Madan, visited Sanjana\u2019s home during Educate Girls<\/a><\/strong>\u2019 door-to-door survey across the district. \u201cWhen I spoke to Sanjana\u2019s parents, I realized that she had missed out on school in 2015 even though she passed her 5th<\/sup> Grade exams with flying colours. Along with the Team Balika (community volunteer) of the village, I made many visits to her home, explaining the importance of education to her parents. I told them that the children would have a chance at being more than just labourers and could make a better life for themselves if they got educated. But they wouldn\u2019t budge. We were simultaneously also speaking to the families of other two out-of-school girls girls; their parents were easier to convince. When things didn\u2019t work out as planned with Sanjana\u2019s parents, we changed our approach. We got the families of the other two girls to speak with Sanjana\u2019s family. After about two and half months of persuasion Sanjana\u2019s family agreed with several ifs and buts. While Sanjana was re-enrolled in grade 6, we knew that she continued to be at a risk of dropping out as her parents were still very skeptical making Sanjana diffident as well\u201d , recounts Madan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In another strategic move, Madan\nalong with Team Balika, seeked help from the Head Master of the upper primary\nschool. They thought if Sanjana was elected as one of the Girls\u2019 Council\nmembers (Bal Sabha member) and given a responsibility, she would feel motivated\nto complete schooling. The Head Master spoke to the other girls and made way\nfor Sanjana to be elected as one of the 13 members. She was given the\nresponsibility of looking after education and everyday studies related needs\nand concerns of the girls in school. According to Madan, \u201cThis move worked for\nus. While Sanjana was hesitant in speaking to other girls for a large part of\nthe year, she has eventually bloomed into a confident girl who is surer of the\nimportance of education. She will certainly complete her 8th<\/sup> grade\nnow.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In the academic year of 2018,\nSanjana was elected as the Health monitor. This new responsibility has allowed\nher to discover so many things. When asked about the most important lesson in\nhealthcare she has learnt, she is quick to answer, \u201cI was recently introduced\nto the concept of a \u2018balanced-diet\u2019. Until then I saw food as just food and\nnever as nutrition. I was explained the importance of a good diet for children,\nespecially for women. As a part of my duty, I have to check the nails of all\nchildren at regular intervals. When I checked my mother\u2019s nails for the first\ntime, I noticed that they were brittle perhaps because of lack of calcium and\nso many other nutrients. She is the last person to eat and often gets the left\novers. I now pay attention to what my mother and everybody else in the house\neats so that we all stay healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sanjana\u2019s mother laughs, \u201cShe\nasks me so many questions about so many things, it makes my head spin!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*changed name<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

14-year old Sanjana* lives with her parents and 2 younger brothers in a village in Ajmer, India, situated in close vicinity to stone mining grounds. Sanjana\u2019s home, just like the others, is perpetually covered in a thin sheet of white sand – particulates of stone that seem to constantly be in the air, settling on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,56,52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories-from-the-field","category-bal-sabha","category-beneficiary-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.educategirls.ngo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.educategirls.ngo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.educategirls.ngo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.educategirls.ngo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.educategirls.ngo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2849"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.educategirls.ngo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5767,"href":"https:\/\/www.educategirls.ngo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2849\/revisions\/5767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.educategirls.ngo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.educategirls.ngo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.educategirls.ngo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}