Staying Safe and Dreaming Dreams Blog#1

The busier we are, the fewer blogs we write! But now we will have #7daysofsamunnatblogs!!Recently I (Kopila) met with 27 girls of ages 11-19. I was invited to speak by a Womens's Cooperative to a group of school girls and some others in Surunga which is 15km west of our home.  They wanted the girls not to be vulnerable to trafficking and unsafe sex situations. I want them to know about our law and their rights.  Most of the girls were in High School but two girls were studying class 6 in Primary school.  I felt very sad of one girl of age 12 who was not studying and who looked very vulnerable.I kept things informal and we introduced ourselves and were sharing.  I asked them for their ideas about how to become secure in different situations. I noticed that they tended to hide their problems until torture escalated from psychological and verbal to physical.  I tried to tell them not to keep things secret or personal but to tell their parents.  I also wanted to let the girls know about changes to the marriage laws in our country.  The girls are not just for the purpose of marriage and being married off.We talked about their future plans and in our really good friendly talking one girl said her dream was to be a journalist. Another wants to join in the police. They all had beautiful dreams.  We had invited Akriti with us. She is a Social Work student who is spending some time with us. She had some really good suggestions about keeping yourself safe in changing rooms in the shops.  I said to them that they had to be very suspicious of anyone giving them gifts or offers and that they had to find out the correct information and government registration and address of anyone claiming to be professional.We spent two hours of laughing and talking! Part two tomorrow!!