Students and staff from Calcutta Rescue got the chance to take part in a five-day workshop as part of a partnership with Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives which aims to make young women change agents in the slums where they live so they can spread awareness about health and other key issues.
Two of our female students, two women from our Health and Outreach projects, accompanied by two other staff members, were chosen to take part in the Peer Leadership Workshop.
The course was activity based and focused on learning life skills such as communication, human rights, problem-solving, decision making and much more.
Varsha, a student of our No 10 education centre, said, “I learnt in-depth about the growth mindset, decision-making, problem-solving and communication skills. These were a few areas where I used to feel very insecure. There were so many activities. We designed posters, wrote and acted in a play together.” Samapika, the other CR student, said “I already feel empowered. If I had not come here I would not have known about my fundamental rights.”
Puja the Community Health Worker for Nimtala slum area was extremely happy to learn creative thinking and empathy. She said, “These skills will help me communicate with patients in our slum area.”
“Sana is one of the adolescent slum dwellers in the Mechua slum area who attends all of the Outreach team’s awareness sessions. “She has shown excellent capabilities to learn, express and lead the community. So we chose her to be in this peer leader workshop”, said Saurabh, supervisor of the Outreach team at Mechua.
Sana said “I am thankful to Calcutta Rescue to gift me with such an amazing opportunity where I can learn so many things. I am very enthusiastic to discuss these things with my family and friends.”
