Blog

By Risha Samanta

FAT has entered the exciting second phase of its project on ‘Young Girls Fighting against Early Marriage’. The girls have embarked on this journey with a lot of enthusiasm. After finishing an entire year at FAT’s Technical Center (also known as the Tech Center), the girls, who largely come from socially and economically disadvantaged families residing in urban poor settlements of South Delhi girls have decided to take a step forward and enhance their technical skills. They are learning photography and filmmaking to document the pressure of marrying early and how they feel about it.

The everyday pressure to marry early is something every adolescent girl can relate to. As soon as the girls reach puberty, they are constantly reminded that it is the beginning of a life full of marital responsibilities. A young girl begins to be viewed as a burden, until the time she goes to her ‘actual home’ which is only after her marriage. The recent batch of the girls from the Tech Center has collectively decided to stop this social menace in their own independent way. The objective is to bring about an attitudinal change in their communities regarding their daughters and safeguarding their future. The girls have already developed an understanding and a keen interest in women’s rights, feminism, patriarchy, gender, sexuality and leadership through their learning’s at FAT. The girls have decided to take their understanding on these issues forward by learning filmmaking and begin their first steps towards community activism by making people aware of their own stories- that they will document in their own films- and ensuring that their voices are heard.  Following the film screening, the girls are also set to talk and discuss with  different groups—young married people, parents, youth group, elders of the community—about the issue they are tackling and record them in yet another short film called ‘charcha’ (discussion).

The first process of learning filmmaking has begun by teaching girls how to use a camera. A group of 30 girls (Tech Center’s alumni) are now part of the camera classes organized by FAT with the help of a renowned documentary filmmaker, Pooja Pant (from Voice of Women Media). These classes are very interactive and open ended, in which the girls get to experiment with their imagination using the power of a camera lens.  Girls get to participate in fun and engaging photography assignments while in every class, Pooja also discusses relevant social issues with the girls. Following this, the girls are taught to capture this through a camera.

The process of learning filmmaking is a dialogic process at FAT, and because it’s the girls’ insight of their communities, so when the girls start to capture, they carry sentiments which is difficult for an outsider to bring about. To explain the art of storytelling through pictures, a special workshop was arranged by Pooja Pant. An external facilitator anchored this session on making photo stories. The girls were taught to link pictures in a storyline. Following this, they were given an assignment to make a photo stories on women’s empowerment and the meaning of freedom in their lives. To interlink the photo stories and everyday life is extremely essential and has been possible with support from all of you.

We are extremely thankful that it is through your support that we have been able to buy equipment for the project, through the Global Giving platform, a DSLR – a Cannon 7D - and 10 small – Sony cameras. The Sony digital cameras are being used by the girls to learn photography, as well as do their weekly assignment (where the girls are supposed to bring forward issues in their community from a women’s rights perspective). For the exchange of ideas amongst the girls and to share the responsibility, one camera is shared by a group of three to four girls who reside in the same neighborhoods. The Cannon-7D DSLR   has been kept for professional use by experts and by the girls who feel confident about using it. An iMac has also been purchased for editing purposes.

Two of our Tech Center Alumni -- Deepika Passi and Renu Arya - who have been a part of a similar project in the past, are interning with us for the current project.  They are helping Pooja with the classes, assisting the girls in photography. They also document the everyday classes and ensure the availability of the girls. They are passionate young girls, who have been through a journey of being a student, volunteer and finally interning with FAT. The hard work and teachings are complimented with occasional leisure activities.

One such activity to add up to the excitement of the girls was a photo-shoot organized for them. It is essential to make them feel confident to be both the photographer and the photographed. Girls dressed their best on this occasion and posed very confidently. There was a marked change in their body language which showed their comfort in front of the camera. This comfort, we realized, has to be linked to voicing their opinions. Speaking as survivors is something that we have always focused on and strived to achieve an attitudinal change.  So we decided to create a platform for the girls to speak and voice their concerns. Radio was chosen as the medium to propagate their views, opinions and voice the struggles. The girls had a wonderful dialogue on their views on early marriage, where the girls hosted the entire event themselves, answered the ‘why’s’ of everything, sang songs on dowry and even recited poems. The radio show is going to be on air as soon as we begin our campaign for early marriage in July-August. The girls have also come with the name for the radio show—‘kadam badhao (March Forward).’

A bag full of activities has been planned for the campaigning which begins in August. After the completion of camera classes, there will be different workshops for the girls from March onwards. This will enhance their understanding on the issues of patriarchy, gender, feminism, rights, family, choice, agency, sexual health, and importance of everyday negotiations.

With this campaign we are looking to bring about a significant change where the girls speak as survivors and not as victims. The campaign is not about banning marriages but to closely look at choices and decisions the girls want to make about their future, whether it is to study further, get a job or marry out of their will.

Risha Samanta is a Programme Trainee at FAT's Tech Center who is closely working on this project with the rest of the team. This report was published as part of FAT's GlobalGiving crowdfunding project. To know more about this and contribute to the collective fight against early and forced marriage, click here.