Kudos to Rohini Pawar for working to stop child marriages.
Rohini Pawar is not just helping prevent child marriages but trying to address the compulsions and traditions that make them possible.
Video Volunteers’ Community Correspondents (CC) were gathered in Jharkhand for a biannual mentor meet in December 2015. In the middle of the meet, CC Rohini Pawar received information about a couple of child marriages taking place close to her village in Pune, Maharashtra. She immediately informed the authorities via ChildLine – 1098, after which the police were sent to stop the event.
Two more children were saved, but only for the time being. Rohini’s fight hasn’t ended yet. She has to go back and ensure these children are now not married off in another secret event.
She also has to try and persuade their parents into letting them finish high school at least.
Rohini’s determined efforts to prevent child marriage aren’t new. In July 2015, Rohini stopped a mass wedding where seven girls and seven boys were to be married. Many frantic phone calls to friends, advocates and family later, Rohini found herself struggling to answer some very important questions. She realized that police intervention alone was not of much use if the children’s parents did not understand the implications of child marriage.
“What they really needed was counselling – somebody to help them understand the implications of early marriage – especially on a girl’s health and education,” she says.
Rohini and her friends then organized a community awareness camp on the implications of early marriage. About 40 people came for this, and expressed several concerns: “What about the safety of our girls when we are away at work?’‘What if she elopes?’ Conversations with parents helped Rohini establish a strong economic link with the practice of child marriage. The group she was addressing comprised mainly people from the Dombari community – most of whom work as daily wage labourers at construction sites on the outskirts of Pune.
A little bit of good news:
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Kudos to Rohini Pawar for working to stop child marriages.