~ Niladri Sahoo

“I remember, I was 5 or 6 years old when I heard the first comment from a relative, ironically that too a woman. She was lamenting that my mother had one daughter and that was even a huge burden. My poor mother was bending her head as if it was her fault,” says Rojalin, who was a happy girl in her childhood and was the only daughter of a very poor family engaged in palm leaves trading.

Rojalin, when she was 19 got married. After her marriage, she came to know that her husband was a drunkard and she became the victim of domestic violence. After 4 months of her marriage, she could not tolerate the torture of her in-laws and ran-away to her father’s house. The traditional constraints didn’t leave her to stay peacefully. The neighbours and relatives started talking about her very often, and she became a discussion point in every place. Rojalin went into a deep depression and stopped talking with anyone and lost her mental balance. Life went on as it did. With the passage of time, other issues cropped up. “Everybody scared my mother saying that married daughter not to be kept in a parental house, rather she would invite disgrace to the family”, shared Rojalin in weeping voice. However, her family members supported Rojalin and tried their best to bring back her life to normalcy. She started reconciling. Rojalin was in search of doing something to help her family. Meanwhile, her friend Sujata informed her about the launching of the Internet Saathi programme by CYSD and took her to a women group meeting. Life dramatically changed for Rojalin when she was selected for the Internet Saathi project and worked in her own village. “I was timid, to begin with. I barely raise my head, leave alone and look into the eyes of people I speak to. But Internet Saathi programme brought me out of my turmoil shell. Gradually, I opened up. I put my efforts and mind for the project activities because I knew this is a golden chance to build my life”, she shared with excitement. Speaking about her engagement as an Internet Saathi, Rojalin shares, “Attending a two-day training and subsequent meetings helped me to be open up with the people and connect digitally. Now, I am very confident to be an entrepreneur and the most important change I saw now is the acceptance of the people who kept me excluded from the community a few days before”.

Rojalin is now the ‘Internet DIDI’ for the villagers. She has transformed herself as the resource point of the village. Eventually, the village women are learning different designs, recipes from her and checking with their entitlements over Government Schemes, FANI Cyclone special packages, etc. Moreover, for the village young girls, she has become everyone’s teacher. She is helping children with drawing and mathematics.

“Internet Saathi has opened up new ways for my life and livelihoods”, says happy Rojalin.