Spotlight: Meet Virendri

Virendri, from Aali Gaon has been part of GOAL programme for the past two years.

When asked about GOAL, Virendri promptly says that it is a platform from where she has recognized herself and her potentials and her community has recognized her.

Belonging to a conservative Hindu family, Virendri had no dreams or aspirations. She spent the whole day doing household chores. She had vision or expectation from her future except for the fact that one day her family would look for a groom and she would be married.

When she joined GOAL, she was part of Prerana’s vocational course where she was pursuing a beautician’s course. She enrolled on to GOAL just because her community leaders asked her to join. However, as time progressed, she got involved and became committed to the program. She started taking initiative in netball and came regularly to all the sessions. She would constantly ask questions. Whenever any girl from the group did not turn up for a session, Virendri would take the initiative to bring her to the court. If there was a difference of opinion among the participants, she would act as the leader, facilitate a discussion and seek to resolve the situation.

As her involvement in GOAL increased she also began to pay attention to her vocational training. She has now been selected to become a ‘GOAL Champion’: to facilitate leadership sessions and teach netball to the new girls in the programme for which she underwent a ‘Train the Trainers’ course. Virendri now regularly conducts netball sessions as well as helps to train new participants on GOAL.

It was a proud moment when Virendri set up her own tailoring centre in October 2008, teaching tailoring to girls from Aali Gaon. She would teach the girls charging them a nominal fee. Virendri got married 2 weeks ago. She will now be moving into a new locality in Delhi and has many plans to implement her learning in her new community.

“Virendri is a success. She is an example to the rest of the community. She now has a career for herself and is confident and determined to convince her family to allow her to make her own choices and decisions. She now has aspirations and is living life on her own terms and conditions!”- Abidi- Community Coordinator, Prerana