Knowing yourself is the Beginning of all Wisdom

International Girl Child Day was celebrated with great pride this year with participants from our first LSE batch.  The pandemic did limit any celebrations in person, however, the positive side of this situation was that it enabled all the team members to participate in the celebrations online from their homes, which otherwise gets challenging when teams are heavily pre-occupied working through their respective projects and find it difficult to reach the venue.We were eager to hear our pioneers of the LSE and Higher Education projects share their experience through the journey. Today we are proud to introduce our first Higher Education project participant Teena Sharma and happy to share her story in her own words.

Mumbai Smiles always encourage students to complete their education because we strongly believe that education is the only source to change one’s future positively. The students who cannot afford fees for their schools and colleges get deprived from their basic right of education. With the objective of helping these children pursue  their dreams, we at Mumbai Smiles offer scholarships to these children. Teena, a resident of Aarey colony was one of the students whom we supported during the year 2014-15 for her higher education.

When Teena expressed her thoughts she said, “As I was inching towards adulthood as a 17 year old,, as a girl, I had started facing problems either related to my education or those related to gender inequality in the society.  I was an introvert by nature, and with the discouragement and demotivation I face from people around me, it only fuelled my introverted nature and led to me confining myself into a virtual cocoon of sorts..  My friends were with me for their own reasons; they never believed me and always judged me. One of my tutor even said that I could not pass in exams  and he always humiliated me in front of other students.

One day I decided not to focus on these people and decided to stay positive to prove them wrong. Not only did I clear my higher education but also successfully completed my Post Graduation in Enterprise Management (PGPEM).

Mumbai Smiles has helped me pursue my post grad education which has had a profound effect on my personality boosting my   confidence, so much so that I am not an old introverted girl any more. I am thankful to the Mumbai Smiles team for their support.”

While talking about Girl child education and women’s rights Teena further said that she believes that not only men but also women are equally responsible for their bad situation. Every woman should respect herself and other women. We all together should prove ourselves so that no one can take disadvantage of our weakness. We all should work towards the betterment of the Woman kind.

We are very grateful for Teena for sharing her experiences and for expressing her gratitude towards Mumbai smiles Foundation. Our LSE (Life Skills Empowerment) students made beautiful Mandala Art painting for our guests. Sachin, Program Manager, Education and Field Coordinator, LSE visited Teena’s home and gifted her one of the paintings.

Currently, Teena is pursuing her MBA in Human Resource (HR). We wish her  good luck for her future endeavours.