Everyone pays attention to me. I stand in the middle of the room only with a piece of paper in my hands. My hands begin to shake and my heart is beating faster and faster, like it is pounding out of my chest. I cover my mouth with my scarf in an attempt to hide. As I look around, I realize..I am here. The first day of my WAWCAS training is about to begin.
I am the first to introduce one of the other women to the rest of the WAWCAS group. Mamata, my WAWCAS trainer give me support and confidence to pull myself together and finalize the presentation.
I look up, watching everyone in the room. I feel that their warm smiles acknowledge me as a member of the community. I cannot stop smiling.
I am so excited about what the training days will bring. I have not felt so eager to learn since my childhood.
Games changing my life
The tears roll down my cheeks. Not because I am sad but because I feel happy.I have not been laughing like this for a long time.
We are playing games that bring back memories from my childhood. We are sitting together in a circle on a green rug. I am watching everyone. We are laughing again. A warm feeling of friendship that had not been there before starts embracing the circle. For the first time I feel I am a part of a community with the same desire and eager as myself to change their living conditions.
The tools we are introduced to within the games are an eye opener to me. Especially, I find the two tools called SWOT Analysis and Pocket Chart Analysis interesting. Mamata and the other facilitators encourage and give us an understanding of why and how the tools are helpful to change our way of living. I feel stronger than ever before and I believe that I have the strengths with the support from WAWCAS to establish my own business. I have already a business idea in mind, but I cannot tell it yet.
I have another thing I would like to share. I have never imagined that I would visualize and find the objective of being a “Sita Giri”. It was such a powerful, emotional and inspiring moment for me to be a part of the training session called Visioning. I wish this part of the training never would end.
Photo: Sita Giri along with the WAWCAS group visualizing where she will be in 5 years.
Everyday I am thinking of the training; every topic and every word of the trainers guides and helps me to believe in myself and realizing my visions for my future.
I hope my visions for the future will come true………