These are stories from past youth fellows of the PUKAR Youth Fellowship Programme about the impact of the programme on their lives, changes they’ve observed within themselves and their respective communities and what they gained from the year long fellowship.
Sweta Surve :
If I have to say in one word what I have learnt in PUKAR is team work in a practical way. How to deal and work with the people who have different opinions and how to give them a space in the entire process.Primarily I also learned to build a consensus among people who have completely different opinions from each other and how to make them work in a team and how to get work done from them. If I have to relate the entire experience of this group dynamics of team level to my future career , I am into the social field and in this field I have to deal with various kinds of people at day to day basis so I am confident enough to use this experience in my future in a positive way.
Sheela Singh
My name is Sheela Singh I have been associated with PUKAR from last one year and from that period I see lot of changes within me but one change that I would like to mentioned is independent attitude. Before joining PUKAR I was very dependent on various things but now after one year I have become independent and I have initiated some steps in my personal life too, I have enrolled my self for 12th class. I have got all information and I did it on my own. I also feel that I will be independent to take decisions for me and for my family.
Salma Sheikh
I am Salma Sheikh and I belong to Mahek group, before joining PUKAR youth Fellowship I used to scared even touching the computer but now I can work on computers. I have also learned English coz matias sir (who used teach us computer) knew only English so I had to learn English. My son is in English medium school so now talked to him in English, also Now I feel confident talking to the people outside. Now I don’t get scared talking to the people. I like Sunil sir in YF because he explains everything in detailed till you understand.
Rajkumar Kanojiya
My name is Rajkumar Kanojiya, from last one year, I have been associated with PUKAR Youth fellowship progamme, In that entire experience I have improved on my writing skills, in the process of Youth fellowship we used to submit various reports like Biography, midterm report, final report and post biography etc. so I used to read a lot and after reading I used to edit my report before finalization , I feel this skill of reading and editing is going to help in my future career as I want to become a journalist and want make a successful career in Journalism.
Praveen Gokhale
Due to PUKAR’s youth fellowship I have learned how to take information from the society, in terms of which questions to ask, how to frame questions etc. This entire process will help me get any information in future. Also I have learned to present this information effectively and confidently in front of others. As I was physically challenged my world was limited to physically challenged people. Al l my friends were physically challenged. I had an inferiority complex and used to not mix with other people from the society but PUKAR gave me that confidence and I look forward for this in my future too.
Namrata Sawant
I have learned to break the barriers of traditional forms of education. I had no clue that simple things can have various aspects but I have learned in PUKAR that various things can be studied in multiple ways and personally I started accepting this. I also learned to understand how difficult it is to gather all the group members after any faction fights and you see this kind of problem in your personal life too but now I don’t get bother by such things but I find great in rebounding.
Hashmee Shahana Abdul Majeed
My Name is Hashmee Shahana Abdul Majeed and I belong to the PRAVAS group. After joining PUKAR Youth fellowship I have developed self confidence and I can put forward my views and opinions in a group. Earlier I used to only think about me and my family but now I have learned to think about my community and things happening around me. I wish to form a group of girls of my age and advocate on various issues along with them.
Guddu Sapre
I am Guddu Sapre, since childhood I used to hate the Muslim community as I have heard lot of phony stories about them from different people. I had a bad perspective about them. I even used to hate the colour green as this resembled Muslims but since have joined PUKAR, I have learned not to judge anything without understanding the facts. So now I make an attempt to gather information and importantly the right information and then only to come to any conclusion and I feel that this attitude will also surely help me in my future.
Abdul Karim
