When you’re sitting in your own house, with all the luxuries and comfort and you suddenly see the news of someone getting abused in some or the other way, especially children, you sympathise or empathize even. Some may also step up and try or at least aim to bring about a change. It is another angle to the story altogether when you walk in the field, meet those children, and hear their story in intrinsic and explicit details. It is then that you realise how hard-hitting and gut-wrenching the reality is.

As hopeful as I was about working with this NGO and working in Bangalore for the very first time, I had my fair share of doubts and worries concerning if I will even be able to learn enough, contribute enough or get along with the girls. The language, the sheer complexity of the cases here, and all the years of learning to be put to practice, everything was undoubtedly intimidating but challenging in a very wonderful way. From the moment I started this blog till now, I never had enough words to describe or jot down my feelings. I always thought I'd eventually be able to. But honestly, with the insurmountable experience this internship, the place and these people have given me, I don't think I will ever be able to write it all down. At least not in one blog.

I was afraid, petrified even, at first about meeting the girls, majorly because I thought they would not like me or would be hesitant but I was welcomed with open arms and was shown nothing but love and respect, even by those who didn't talk to me. During one of the many conversations with the girls, I spoke to one who was reflecting upon her life expectations and dreams from when she was 16 and wanted to get married to her boyfriend. She explained how she came here and gained a realization that if this would have happened, she'd have to ask some man for even 10 rupees for the rest of her life. As problematic as that would be for her and women like her, it is also worrisome the amount of pressure and expectation we as a society put on men. To be the provider, the breadwinner, and rescuer, like a knight in shining armour. She decided that whenever she goes out, she wants to finish her education and fulfill her wishes herself. Till the time she is here, she will make sure that other girls know and learn this too. They learn the very concept of independence and freedom, for they truly need it. The concept of becoming your own knight in the shining armour, instead of waiting for one.

When you work in such settings, whatever profession and experience, it is bound to take things away from you, make you think longer, make you scrutinize every action or word, skip meals, make you want to cry, burst out and leave it all behind and run away. And since life is not a bed of roses or a cinematic masterpiece where all things go well in the end, you do end up doing all those things. You cry, skip sleep and meals, overthink, get distracted and even take a break. That is what makes us human. But the girls make you want to go back, make it all worth it. When at the end of a long, tiring, exhausting, upsetting, heart-rending day you see a girl come to you, smiling ear to ear and hear them tell you she is going back home, with a distinct glint in her eyes, to go get what she needs, it all makes sense. It takes the doubts and questions away.

You may or may not be with this organization in future, you may or may not be working with these girls, but it is safe to believe you have made some impact, even if it is in parts and bits. And it could be that these girls would grow up thinking about this Akka and Amma she met back in Bangalore, making you forever be ingrained in their memory. And when they make changes in the lives of other young girls, our purpose will be met. This internship has given me a lot. The day Sarita ma’am showed me the books and allowed me to set them up however I wanted and to come and read whenever was the day I realized I had found just another home for myself. My experience from this internship is not limited to just children, staff, activities and academic learning, it goes far beyond that. Working in MyChild never for a second felt like an ‘obligation’, it felt like ‘responsibility’.