Prayasam

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Sikha Patra with mother Minati,who is proud of her daughter’scommunity work

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Front Page > Calcutta > Story

Journey from a roadside tap to fount of knowledge At 14,agents of change

- Teenaged activist duo from Ultadanga colony headed toOxford to speak on living and improving life in povertySUDESHNA BANERJEE

A day in the lives of Salim Shekh and Sikha Patrausually begins in front of a community water tap innortheast Calcutta where residents of 10 paras convergeevery morning before the scheduled supply hour.

As Monday dawns and the water war breaks out all overagain, the two 14-year-olds won’t be standing in front ofthat tap — they will be headed for London as guestspeakers at the Said Business School, University ofOxford.

Salim and Sikha are due to take the stage on Thursdayat a session called “Young people — The newsuperheroes leading social innovation” to talk about lifeback home at Nehru Colony, near Ultadanga, and their

crusade to improve living conditions for 9,000 refugees. The event is a part of the SkollWorld Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, organised by the Skoll Foundation.

“They earned their passage to England. I had no hand in it,” says Amlan Ganguly of theNGO Prayasam, with which the teenagers work.

Sikha and Salim will go extempore in Bengali on their Oxford lecture debut. MentorGanguly will be translating their speeches into English for the audience.

The road to Oxford was paved brick by brick over three years of community work by Sikhaand Salim as area health minders of Prayasam. The duo have continued their studiesalongside — Sikha in Class X at Rani Satarupa Balika Vidyalay in Belgachhia and Salimin the same class at Saradaprasad Institution in Ultadanga.

That both are different from other teenagers of the neighbourhood leading listless liveswas first highlighted in a documentary commissioned by Stanford University onPrayasam’s work with children.

“The film shows how Salim, Sikha and two other kids are taking ownership of theircommunity with a focus on health. Someone from Skoll Foundation watched it on the edittable and wrote to us, inviting Salim to the forum that has youth empowerment as itstheme,” recounts Ganguly.

The founder director of Prayasam immediately pitchedfor the inclusion of a girl in the guest list. “Genderdiscrimination in these areas is a big concern for us,” hesays.

A second invitation soon arrived for Sikha, who hasalready shown she doesn’t have stage fright by speakingat a programme hosted by the ministry of women and

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Journey from a roadside tap to fount of knowledge http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120326/jsp/calcutta/story_152...

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Salim Shekh with mother Asma Bibi,who helps her son balance schoolwith work. (Rashbehari Das)

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TodayMainly clear sky. Maximumtemperature likely to bearound 37°C.

child development at Vigyan Bhavan on National GirlChild Day last year.

“As a peer educator in the campaign against childmarriage, I was required to not only highlight problemsbut also suggest solutions,” she says of that event.

Salim points to a business card of industrialist and MP Naveen Jindal pinned to animprovised soft board in his one-room home as a memento from his 2010 visit to Delhi toaddress the Parliamentary Forum on Children on his work on hygiene and environmentalcleanliness.

“After I spoke (at the Parliament library), Jindalji came up to me and gave me his card. Hesaid I could call him any time,” he recalls.

Across the rail tracks, off Dakshindari Road near Ultadanga, a narrow lane leads to NehruColony. The lane is clean, the result of a door-to-door campaign by Salim’s group to stopdumping garbage there, but not everything is met with enthusiasm.

Activism, of course, has its pitfalls. More so in the kind of environment in which Salim andSikha have grown up.

When an anonymous call to Childline last year prompted the police to halt an underagemarriage at the colony, the family immediately suspected Sikha’s group had something todo it. But Sikha’s parents have stood by her.

“Except for that one time, there has never been a complaint. She must be doing goodwork,” says mother Minati.

Father Ramesh, a driver, has bought her a sweater, a pair of shoes and a dress for the UKtrip.

Salim’s father Khude Mian makes and sells paper cartons. In his absence, mother AsmaBibi helps her younger son balance school and other activities. “I know he is going toLondon but I am not sure what for. We bought him a pair of jeans and got a shirt stitchedfor the trip,” she says at their one-room home.

The lane outside is lined with water containers in front of each tiled-roof house. It showshow scarce potable water is in the neighbourhood.

Salim and Sikha are currently preparing a GPS map marking each pucca lane, number ofhouses in each row and the exact locations of the water taps. The map will be part of apetition to the local councillor for better drinking water supply.

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