Manishaben Sanjaibhai Ziminiya is one of the residents of Dhinda Pada in Silvassa district. She is a 32 years old woman who got married at a very early age and had been deprived of a school education. But wait, this is not the end of her story!

Initially, after her marriage with Sanjai Bhai Ziminiya, her life was going on smoothly while she was taking care of her husband and other family members. During the second or third year of her marriage, she came to know that her husband was suffering from mental illness. Gradually as time passed by, it kept growing and its repercussion was that it affected their married life. Her husband used to torture her and due to which he never had given her due respect. As a result, she had decided to leave that family, but fate had stored something else in her destiny.  She gave birth to a baby girl.  But during this time, her husband’s family had boycotted her and had left her helpless. But she is a woman with strong willpower. At first, she worked as a seasonal wage earner to sustain herself and her daughter, but as her daughter started to grow she realized that this isn’t enough for them. With support from her foes, she got a job in a packaging company. Here she started to earn more, that is in a month Rs. 7500 INR. She realized that any employment isn’t easy if one doesn’t know how to read and write. In this juncture, she was introduced to the program of Badlaav where she learned that she would be taught how to read, write, speak and do basic numerical calculations. Her daughter too motivated her to pursue this program, who recently had passed her Xth standard Board exams.

According to her, she has always faced the problem of understanding her daughter’s school syllabus and books, as she didn’t know how to read and write. She also couldn’t help her in her studies since her early school days. She says with high conviction “Hun yehu vicharo choo k amara samaj maa baadvivah thee bachine chokriyoney kulmaaje shikshan mali raheu chey tene prapt kare ane tema vadharo thai…”

Translation- I want that from our community, girls should be educated and should remain safe from child marriage!!