"In my heart, I aim to walk ahead of the world, I want to leave them behind and focus on progress first", says 17-year-old Shama living in Shram Vihar, Delhi. Shama lives with her father, mother, two brothers and one sister. While she has always lived in Delhi, Shama moved to Shram Vihar a few years ago. Her mother works as a domestic worker, and since she cannot take her younger sister along to work, Shama has to care for her. As a result, she often misses out on her education.
Since childhood, Shama has been afraid - afraid of people around her. What would they think if she said something wrong? Will people laugh? Will they just make fun of her behind her back? These fears held her back from talking and sharing her opinions. During her initial engagement, she would show up at the centre, sit quietly, and observe the sessions. This fear was prevalent not just during the sessions, but in other spaces too - in sharing her opinions with friends, or speaking with family members. What if I share something and my mother gets angry?
A year later, Shama feels confident. Confident to speak up, share her thoughts and seek solutions for the issues people in her community are facing. Her initial engagement at the centre encouraged Shama to reflect and share her thoughts - how will you progress in life if you’re so afraid all the time? Soon, Shama started participating actively at the centre. This participation turned into confidence as she got information on gender and her body. The session on period and menstrual pain was especially powerful, as it gave terms to something Shama is experiencing regularly. She understood that she didn’t need to be afraid of sharing her experiences, especially when she is doing nothing wrong. She started feeling comfortable in sharing her issues and concerns with people around her - first the facilitator and then her parents.
“A lot of children are afraid, if you share things with their mother, she might beat you. She might ask questions, what all did you do? What did you not do? My mother is also like this. When I share things with her, she asks 8-10 questions. She asks me where I went? What did I eat? She asks me these questions. If you want to share something, you should do it openly. If you haven’t done anything wrong, then what are you afraid of?
This confidence translated into leadership for Shama. She became a community leader. Her roles expanded - she would support her friends in answering queries that they had about the session. Soon, the facilitators had to ask Shama to stay quiet so that others could talk during the sessions.
She was able to identify what is right and wrong. She would share with the facilitators if she saw any cases of violence and encouraged them to intervene. The facilitators provided her with the space to take action against issues that bothered her. Shama has encouraged the facilitators to conduct community-wide sessions with mothers on violence to reduce violence against children.
“I couldn’t convince my mother to attend the session as she was tired after work and couldn’t come. However, I was happy to see other mothers participating and showing interest in their daughters’ lives. I will definitely try to bring my mother to the next session.”- says Shama.
In her recent engagement, Shama participated in the Participatory Safety Audit of Shram Vihar. She marked all the areas that are safe and unsafe, along with all the other challenges that the community is facing. One area still has water, where mosquitoes breed and spread diseases. Another area has too much litter. At a few places, streetlights are installed but there are no bulbs; that area gets dark at night making it difficult for women to step out. For Shama, these are political issues, as they exist due to the lack of properly functioning governance mechanisms. 
She participated in a nukkad natak on violence against women and girls and shared- “I was scared at first, wondering what would happen and how I would perform, as I had never done anything like this before. But once I performed, it felt really good. Earlier, we were part of the same crowd, and today that crowd is watching us, learning from us and applauding. It felt very empowering.”
As Shama grows older, she wants to become a teacher or MLA. She wants to become an influential person so that people will listen to her. So that she can take action against violence.
“I want that if I become anyone in future, then I will raise my voice on these issues in future” Shama says with a smile on her face, aiming to improve Shram Vihar.
For now, Shama continues engaging with the sessions, supporting her peers, asking difficult questions, and standing up for herself wherever it seems necessary. Her goal is clear: make Shram Vihar a safer, healthier and cleaner place, a place where women and girls can be free.
