This girl’s career choice is to develop a village

Her conviction reflects clearly on her face. The aura of her personality will make you change the meaning of your own life. Hailing from the small town Modinagar in Ghaziabaad district, Sanjana is here to change India , beginning at the grass root level. Leaving her comfortable urban life behind, she decided to move to the dusty village of Sehore in Madhya Pradesh.

Sanjana’s life before Sehore

Having done BSc from Delhi University, Sanjana was hardly able to connect to subjects of Science and hence, joined National Social Service scheme. As a consequence of this, she got opportunities to volunteer for various social organisations and soon she knew where she was heading to.

Beginning of her journey at Sehore

She joined the NGO Samarthan as a fellow from India Fellow Social Leadership Programme. Then for a project called ‘School Education and Sanitation’ which has 3 components- Health, Sanitation and Education, Sanjana moved to her field area Uljhawan in Sehore district. There, she has beenworking with child cabinets and Self Help Groups in 10 villages.

Her contribution

She along with her Samarthan team, is on a mission to make Sehore, an Open Defecation Free zone. They do regular follow ups with the locals to educate them on the same. In addition, she conducts meetings with women Self Help groups to educate them on various issues. These meetings are sometimes conducted in the evenings using torch lights as women are busy with household chores during the day. Next she visits government schools to monitor their activities. She along with her team frequently organizes rallies and training sessions.

Her feelings about this entire activity

She shares a great bond with the school students and also with the local people. Above all, unconditional love from everybody makes her feel overwhelmed. She celebrated Diwali at one of the local homes.

She is extremely happy with what she is doing and finds utmost satisfaction in this. Finally, I would like to say that it requires extreme courage to be doing such a great task.