Shaheen Mistri

Twenty years ago, an 18-year-old girl who had only lived abroad till then came to Mumbai on a holiday. But something made Shaheen Mistri stay, and she traded in the American dream to pursue a dream of her own – to provide an excellent education to all children. She started The Akanksha Foundation, which provides formal and non-formal education for underprivileged children. Today, the non-profit has an impact on the lives of about 3,500 children in Mumbai and Pune.

More recently, in 2008, Shaheen also signed on as CEO of Teach For India (TFI), a movement that places college graduates and young professionals as teachers in low-income schools, with the vision that young leaders can help remove the education inequity that exists in India.

Shaheen’s pursuit is relentless and inspiring. Here, she talks about her journey to bring change:

 Have you been able to meet your goals?

For the children we have impacted, we have been able to bring about transformation in their academic achievement and character development. Today, Akanksha children speak in fluent English, have a high level of confidence, have increased aspirations for their own lives, are in college and are getting good jobs.

In its first year, Teach For India is reaching 3,000 students and creating leaders who will build the movement to eliminate inequity in education.

What challenges have you faced?

Our challenges include getting sufficient funding and really determining the key factors that enable a child to meet his or her full potential.

What has your personal journey been like?

It has been a journey of learning by doing, of working and learning from diverse people, of multiple challenges that have forced us to think and re-think our programmes. It has been a path of personal transformation.

What does every Mumbaikar need to do?

I think every person in Mumbai needs to commit to making the city better by really becoming better ourselves. We need to become more aware, more caring, more proactive.

What will drive change?

A change in mindsets, the desire to change, strong leadership, a clear plan, a commitment to meeting goals and the ability to work relentlessly.

– Mumbai Action team

To know more about Akanksha, log on to www.akanksha.org.

To read about Teach For India, go to www.teachforindia.org

Women from Awaz-e-Niswaan at the Kala Ghoda festival

Using media creatively to give women a voice 

 In the next few months, people all over Mumbai will witness an intensive campaign against domestic violence. Perhaps through an installation in your neighbourhood that uses broken objects to tell stories of violence, or an entertaining play or dance that incorporates an awareness message, or even a college website that talks about how to carry on healthy relationships.

In an ambitious 18-month undertaking, Point of View, an organisation that draws attention to women’s issues through various media, is reaching out to people in slums, neighbourhoods, colleges, BMC hospitals and colleges. 

This is the latest in a long line of projects since 1997, when Point of View launched with a photographic exhibition that captured what 50 years of independence had meant for Indian women. “We found that women’s issues were being dealt with in a manner that was inaccessible – jargon-heavy conferences, unwieldy books – so we thought about how to take these issues public by contributing through what we do,” says founder Bishakha Datta, a filmmaker and writer. She adds, “I have always been interested in the worm’s eye view, telling the story of people who are marginalised.” 

A poster for the Sculpting Lives exhibition

And so, Datta and other women working in media came together to figure out ways to put forth the points of view of women. For instance, a few years ago, the organisation helped stage My Mother, The Gharwali, Her Malak, His Wife, a play starring 25 sex workers that challenges ideas of prostitution. Data has also made a documentary on the subject called In the Flesh. Over the years, Point of View has produced various films, books, ads, reports and even games on issues of sexuality, gender, violence and health. 

More recently, Point of View helped Awaz-e-Niswaan (which works with Muslim women) raise money and trained women, who are victims of domestic violence, in photography and sent them out to click the world around them. The result was a photography exhibition, Sculpting Lives, that was on view at the Kala Ghoda arts festival. 

“We want to reach as many people as possible so we always make sure we are in spaces that aam janta (common people) have access to, such as Kala Ghoda, Prithvi, Prince of Wales museum, etc,” Datta adds. But their work often hits roadblocks in the form of censorship or ignorance. Plus, it could often seem like a futile exercise as there is no way of measuring tangible change. 

And though it’s very difficult to change people’s mindsets, Datta believes that the most important thing is to give women a voice and a point of view. 

For more information, go to www.pointofview.org  

– A.S.

Advitya channels the creative talent of mentally challenged individuals towards creating special and beautiful items such as bags, folders, diaries and more from jute, leather, cloth, cane, etc. Do your bit for those who need a little bit more help than others by volunteering your time, sponsoring raw material or placing an order with the wonderful folks at Advitya. For more information, go to www.advitya.com