Chauthi had become a disabled person due to a severe attack of polio in her childhood. The 19-year-old is a resident of Kanasar village in the Bap block of Jodhpur district of Rajastan, India. Third among six siblings of a family of a poor landless labourer, she was married off at 16, when she was barely able to walk by herself. The relationship did not last. Very soon, her husband and parents-in-law, blaming her for her physical handicap, abandoned Chauthi. Her husband got married again. Absolutely unaware of the legal provisions, Chauthi couldn’t get maintenance from him. With a sense of rejection and despair, she returned to her parents’ place.

When her village was selected under the Doosra Dashak Project, she came in contact with the field staff. After initial hesitation, she joined a three-month residential camp, which worked out to be a turning point in her life. She not only learnt reading and writing but everything, which had meaning for her life. Guidance, care and affection of the teachers and a sense of togetherness with girls of her age helped in grooming her personality.

Chauthi emerged as a leader of girls – helping them study, coming out of their shell and making a resolution for a new life. She herself achieved the level of grade III and learnt traditional embroidery in a two-month training program organized by the Project. Now, earning Rs 42 (about one dollar) for making a small cushion, she is an “earning member” of her family.

Chauthi has taken the initiative to form a collective of adolescent boys and girls of her village. When the water pond of her village went dry, she and her peers took charge and cleaned it up. She has also been active in securing Muslim girls’ participation in the residential camps, interacting with the parents and community members. One can see Chauthi in the forefront of any struggle for social justice, leading a group of peers with a tremendous sense of confidence in her voice and gestures. She still walks with difficulty, but the confidence of her voice helps her overcome her physical handicap. For her, life has begun anew.

Informed of the legal provisions for an abandoned married woman, Chauthi is now all set to fight a case against her husband for maintenance and getting back the small amount of money her parents had given as her dowry. From a lonely, fragile figure, Chauthi is now a ‘peer educator’, a role model!