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| Gulafsha Khan - Teacher, Magic Bus |
Not far from the historic city
of the erstwhile Mughal Rulers, Delhi, is the large settlement colony of
Bhalswa. In stark contrast to the grandeur of the capital city, Bhalswa can
best be described as Delhi’s largest dumping ground. It is difficult to
conceive that the shantytown is home to thousands of families who were evicted
from slums in Delhi and resettled near a landfill site. It is even harder to
believe that a young girl could rise like a phoenix from under the pervasive
haze of the putrid and toxic methane gas.
Gulafsha Khan was a young girl
when her family was forced to move to Bhalswa. “We lived in a slum in
Nizammudin in South Delhi with access to clean water and electricity. We were
horrified when we got to Bhalswa. The area was a desolate jungle swarming with
snakes. People were so despondent that they wanted to run away. When the
settlers began digging the earth to stand their shelters, they found countless
bones. It was a creepy place”, recalls Gulafsha. Her five siblings and parents
struggled to make ends meet then and it is not very different now. Most of the
community’s population is well below the poverty line. Men and women work as
daily wage workers at construction sites while some women find employment as
maids in more affluent areas nearby.
Over time, the settlement
degenerated into a slum while the peripheral area developed with the setting up
of two primary schools and one secondary school. Gulafsha and her five siblings
found their way to school while living in a one-room slum with their parents.
In 2011, Gulafsha heard about the NGO Magic Bus from her friends. She went to
meet its volunteers, Santosh and Mahadev, and learned that Magic Bus worked to
drive change in the areas of education, health and hygiene and reproductive
health.
Gulafsha says, “I signed up for the Community Youth Leader (CYL) Programme.
After my six day training, I had to make a group of 25 kids and teach through
play. I approached several parents to permit their children to join the
activities in a nearby park. Many declined for safety reasons. I had to build their
trust in me over time to prove to them that I was a responsible girl.” The volunteers
at Magic Bus recognized Gulafsha’s enthusiasm and extraordinary mentoring
skills and awarded her CYL of the month. They consistently encouraged her to
pursue her education while gently cajoling her parents to agree.
Subsequently, Gulafsha also
received other essential training such as computer literacy skills and
functional English, as part of the Magic Bus Livelihoods Programme.
“It has not been easy for me
to step out to work. My community has constantly taunted my parents for letting
me work and in turn my parents have often pressured me to abandon social work.”
“When I am with my group of children I feel like a child again. In the time I
spend with them, I forget my worries about the present and the future
entirely.”
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| Gulafsha with the children of Magic Bus |
Gulafsha realized that her
parents could not afford her college education so she began giving home
tuitions to middle-school children. “I now pay my college fee from my
earnings”, says Gulafsha. “I want to study further to qualify for a teacher’s
job.”
Guafsha, 19, wants to live
life on her own terms and she does today.
(Source: Women of Pure Wonder, published by Roli Books.)
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