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| Bhavna (in the middle) with her friends. |
Twelve Magic Bus children
travelled all the way to USA to attend the prestigious soccer training by Julie
Foudy. “It has been a month since we all came back. And I am still to wake out
of the reverie,” says 17-year-old Bhavna of Trilokpuri in east Delhi. For her,
it was her first journey outside Trilokpuri. “I haven’t seen much in Delhi
except the place I live in,” she says.
Bhavna belongs to a family of
five. Her mother was thrown out of her in-laws house because she failed to
conceive even a year after her marriage. “She was 15 years old during her
marriage. It was because of my grandmother that we got a roof over our head and
the inspiration to study. She was the reason my parents never pulled us out of
school despite severe economic hardships”. Bhavna’s father is a chauffeur with
a salary of Rs. 7000 per month. Her brother had to drop out in the tenth
standard to support the family. “He wanted a government job. He drives trucks
now.” Bhavna and her two sisters could pursue higher education because of her
brother’s sacrifice.
Bhavna joined Magic Bus four
years ago. Her Magic Bus mentor encouraged her to pursue her dreams to become a
footballer. She also advised her to never let go of education. With her
support, Bhavna played as a part of Delhi’s under-19 women’s football team. “I
was the only girl in the team from an economically weaker family. I felt
lonely. No one wanted to be friends with me. My performance won them over,” she
reminisces. At the JFSLA, she no longer felt alienated. “On the contrary,
people here were warm and curious about me and my country. I spoke, listened
and experienced. I learnt how to communicate with people without fear,” she
puts it simply.
Back home, her economic
struggles are far from over. Although there are three earning members, the
combined income barely puts an end to the regular struggle for basic
necessities. She still borrows money from her friends to pay for practice at
the Noida stadium. She wants to study but her ambition is to become a
footballer. “I want to help street children go back to school. It pains me to
see them begging on the street,” she says.
Bhavna’s parting message is an
encouraging insight into how young people living in poverty want to change the
world around them.
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