A Story from Madri

Madri is a little village located 2 hours away from the city Udaipur. The purpose of my visit to Madri today was to see the youth resource center and talk to the youth volunteers to gain new insights for the project I’m currently working on. We arrived around 10am, and were greeted by the youth resource center volunteer Santosh with her warm smile. She told us that there will be a Raki making workshop today and many girls will show up so it will be a good opportunity for us to see how the center functions and to interact with the youth. I’ve noticed that when Santosh talks to the youth around her she has this easy-going and enthusiastic tone that makes her seems to be at ease with every youth. I was wondering whether she was previously involved in education or any other jobs that involved youth.


After talking to her, I found out that she first got involved with my NGO back in her hometown Kelwara. She attended a patchwork workshop that was run by the NGO. Although patchwork turned out to be not her thing, later on when the NGO opened a theatre workshop in the area, she became very involved. Because of her talent, she was sent to Ahmedabad, a city in the neighboring province to receive further trainings. Over there she had the opportunity to write scripts on community issues and perform them in different villages. Because of her lively character, she was encouraged to apply for the position of a YRC volunteer in Delwara. She eventually got the job there and 2 years ago was transferred to the current center. I asked if she did a theater workshop here or not. She said only once but there was not enough interest. I asked her whether she would like to do further studies in theaters, and she responded with a firm and passionate yes.

I later found out that she’s 22 years old. If she were born in another time and place, perhaps she would be a senior in a college pursuing her theater degree now. Instead she is working as a youth center volunteer trying to support her 2 younger siblings with her minimum salary, living alone in a village far away from home. I’ve been looking at children in the slum areas and beggars on the streets for the past 10 weeks but poverty was still in the distance. Today when I talked to Santosh, someone my age who is leading a completely different life from mine, poverty and inequality was closer than ever. I can’t help but ask myself, why her?