Blog

The Tech centre here at FAT is a place where girls come and share their life’s stories with me. Of all the girls that have studied here, I would like to share the story of one girl in particular with you.

Raveena, a 19 year old young woman, is studying Bachelors of Arts at Delhi University and lives in the slums of Jalvihar near Lajpat Nagar. She came to the tech center in April 2011 to learn computer skills. Since her family income was barely Rs.7000 a month she desperately needed a job, however, she was afraid to take one up because she was very shy and reserved. After being with us for 8 months we decided to hire her to work for FAT as an administrative assistant. Raveena had a lot of trouble talking to new people and even travelling via public transport. She was especially scared of travelling in buses: the crowd, all the pushing and shoving made her highly uncomfortable. Back home, while she was solely responsible for all the outside chores she never once took the bus and instead chose to travel by auto. She was a big foodie and especially loved street food but was too scared to eat outside. She was always anxious, worrying what people thought of her and so, all public spaces made her uncomfortable as she felt that all eyes were always only on her.

In her time here at FAT we took it upon ourselves to first work on this fear. Her first few days at work, to get her acclimatized with our surroundings, we sent her off to banks and markets with lists of things to do and people to talk to. This was a test: we wanted to see how she’d handle herself if she was thrown into situations like these where she had to interact with complete strangers. Initially, she was hesitant to go out but upon our insistence she braved her fears and ventured out.  Every time she’d get back, she’d excitedly share her day’s experience with us. She often lost her way, forgot directions, and missed buses etc. all the while persistently making panicky phone calls to us.

After few months, however, things started to turn around. She started confidently taking the bus, stopped calling us to ask for directions and even began using Google maps to get around. Soon enough, she was helping us interact with other girls from JalVihar basti and even organizing events for them. After a whole year of working with us the once timid Raveena came up to me and said “I want to do another job and work with people I don’t already know.” She felt she had become too comfortable with us and the true test of her newly acquired self-confidence and strength will be if she pushed herself further into newer surroundings. “I want to experiment and see what I’d be like at a new office and whether I’d be able to adjust and be just as open with other people”. We were all very happy with her decision to and gave her our best wishes. She applied for a job in a company, gave the interview and was selected as a data operator! And so, began a new chapter in Raveena’s life.

Few days back when I met her, she had an interesting story to tell me. Not only was she comfortable in her new office, she had made many new friends and was very happy.She loved everything about her work, what’s more is that her manager was very impressed with her computer skills and how she never missed her deadlines. The only hitch was that she missed FAT! She expressed how she especially missed the open and friendly work environment where no one was boss and everyone shared all responsibilities. “Here, whenever seniors are around, all the employees stop talking and laughing”.  One day, when Raveena and her colleagues were talking and pulling each other’s leg over something, their boss entered and began shouting “Are you here to work or to socialize and chit-chat?”.  Raveena realized that something was not right: they may be employees but they can’t be treated like slaves. She spoke up “We’ve all completed our work for the day, that’s why we are talking to each other. There is no such rule that we cannot talk with each other at all throughout the day!”    

Since that day, Raveena raises her voice whenever she feels like the employers are not doing right by her or her colleagues and she is no longer afraid to stand up for herself. She is now looking for an even better job and here’s hoping that she’ll reform many more work spaces! One person that she has truly inspired is her younger sister Renuka who now wants to follow in Raveena’s footsteps.

What is more is that Raveena’s mother no longer needs to do domestic work to get by, she has comfortably retired. Raveena now contributes a substantial amount to the household expenses and so their family is better off than ever before. Moreover, Raveena single handedly also takes care of her own expenses both personal and educational. The once introverted Raveena has let go of all her fears and anxieties and is living life to the fullest!

- A blog post by Asha Tiwari, translated by Mansi Virmani. Both Asha and Mansi are Program Associates at FAT.