My Dreams

KHIDDERPORE, OCT. 2: The place where I will settle down in the future is my native place in the Sundarbans. I want to build a house there and live with my parents and grandparents. There will be large trees with fruits. I will plant saplings in the garden in front of my house. Flowers will bloom. There will be a pond a little way from the house. It will be full of lotus leaves and flowers. Ducks will swim in it. Beside the pond, there will be coconut tress laden with fruits and date palms. And I will have a few banana trees behind the house. There will also be a paddy field. There will be a wide road in front of my house. I will have a parrot, a dog and a mongoose at home. Birds will nest in the trees. A river will flow at a short distance from the house. Fishermen will catch fish. There will be trees along its banks.

I live in Topsia. I am the daughter of a Mochi (cobbler). I have learnt how to make sandals from my father. He is very skilled, but nowdays he does not have so much work- the leather factories have all moved from here. My dream is one house, with lots of sky and stars.

Right now, I am learning embroidery, cutting, and sewing. After I complete my course, I want to own a boutique where many girls will be able to get jobs and earn money for themselves. My dream is to own a boutique so that I can also make money so that I can build build a house where my mother, father, brothers, and sisters will stay. My bhabis will also stay there. I don’t want my brothers to live separately from us after marriage. My wish is that we all stay together. No separation— that is the one thing I do not want.

Even in my dreams, I never thought that I would get the opportunity to go before the Parliament of my country to tell my story. This has all happened because Apne Aap Women Worldwide has made it possible.

When I came to know that I had an opportunity to express my feelings (experiences) before the Parliament, I was both scared and happy. The pain that I have kept inside myself for years is not only my own, but is shared by thousands of my sisters who are trapped in prostitution and who are the victims of pimps and traffickers, so I wanted to express it for everyone.

Kolkata: After learning my craft, I feel that I will not go into business, but will teach. I would like to uplift the Nutt community and open the doors of life for them. My wish is to make use of my knowledge.

I would like to stand on my feet, get established and take care of my family. The very first thing that I want to do for them is to shift them from the redlight area to a place with a nice environment. I want them to know how beautiful the world can be. And I also want them to have the courage to admit that the place they are in is not healthy. I would like to change the environment of the people around me. I do not want anybody to be in an unhealthy environment.

I earnestly feel that tolerating injustice is in itself an injustice.

Forbesgunge: My name is Sangeeta. I am 8-years old. I study in lower KG section of Apne Aap School. I have one younger brother and sister who come to attend the crèche everyday. I have been coming to the school regularly since August. During this time, I have learnt the Hindi alphabet, simple words in Hindi and simple sums. I like the painting class and the music class the most. I am happy that I can come to school now.

Subhash Camp, Delhi: Recently, Fatima, a young designer came to teach us how to make artificial jewellery.

I learnt how to make earrings, bracelets, necklaces in different designs and colours. My favourite colours are red and green. I only have a few bangles and earrings of my own. I made a bracelet with my favourite colours. Fatima and Neelam didi showed us how to match colours, place the beads in sequence and how to knot the thread, and then they made samples, step by step and we followed. Then they checked the pieces we made and made corrections if necessary. Once we were taught colour schemes, we could mix and match beads ourselves, but we always showed didi and asked for her guidance.

So far we have made and sold many items and earned some profit too from it. For the Diwali festival we had put up our jewellery items, crochet designs, art work and bags for sale. Till date we have had three big sales, the UNODC Conference in Delhi, the Korean Festival and the Delhi Diwali sale at the Indonesian Embassy.

Kidderpore, Kolkata: I used to think I could never use a computer. It was a strange machine, which was completely unknown to me. But once I started using it, I started to figure out what it did. Soon after, I could also do a few things on it on my own. The more I learnt the more I believed I could do anything.

As I started to learn more things on the computer, I noticed that my interest towards my school work also increased considerably. I want to study English, so I can be better at using the computer. This is the reason why I love computers.

In today’s world, I can get a job if I know computers. That is why I want to study hard and be a teacher when I grow up. I want to teach a lot of children about what I know. I am sure that if I want I can learn a lot. Learning computers has given me this confidence.

Kamatipura, Mumbai: All I can think of every day is that I want to be a nurse, in a clean white uniform, busy at work in a hospital all day long and live in a decent neighbourhood just like all of you. I know how difficult it will be. I will have to be coached properly. I want to prepare for my class ten exams. I can read and write Marathi quite well and a little English.

The last time I was in a classroom was in my village all those years ago. Once you reach Nagpur it is further from there. We were so desperately poor, we would eat one meal a day every other day. So we were all short tempered and ready to fight each other all the time.

 Kidderpore, Kolkata: Every day I eat my meals from one or two hotels in our area. Of course it is very tasty, but now I regularly get stomach aches. I am sure it is due to the spicy food …so I started to think if we could cook our own food it might be good. Just imagine having the meals of our choice together. It will be such fun.

But every time I think of something good I think of something bad too. We are always squabbling and we get irritated with each other over small things. Sometimes I do not like it but I cannot control myself; so if we can do something on our own initiative, I am sure it will improve our ties with each other, our friendship. But as I said I am not sure whether we can do it.