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"I want to complete my studies, become a teacher and brighten the lives of people"

Intersectionality is a buzzword commonly used to describe the condition of an individual who faces disadvantages on many fronts – gender, caste, religion and so on. Take Mase Markam (15) from Lingo Para in Jaram village in Metapal panchayat of Dantewada district. She has to overcome hurdles at three levels: as a girl, as an adivasi (she belongs to the Gond tribe), and as a person with dwarfism.
 
According to the 2011 census, around 700 people live in Jaram, most of them Gond, and only one in 15 among the female population is literate. There is just one government school (started by the Department of Education in 1990) in Metapal: the Balak Asharam School. Mase lives with her widowed mother Somari Bai (48), an agricultural labourer. She found it tough to travel back and forth between home and school because of her disability, and she stopped going after second standard. But Saksham came to her rescue.
 
Readers may recall Saksham, the residential institution (Saksham I for boys and Saksham II for girls) in Bastar, Dantewada that houses around 100 children with disabilities. They get free education and boarding from Standards 1 to 12 in a well-designed, barrier-free residential complex that provides comprehensive access and the necessary forms of therapy for children with different disabilities. The children benefit from a range of extra-curricular activities depending on their inclination: sports, music, painting, craftwork, and vocational training. Teachers also go on recruitment drives to surrounding villages, encouraging parents of disabled children to send them to Saksham. On one such trip, the teachers landed up at Mase’s house in Jaram, which is 18 km from Dantewada, and counselled Bhima and Somari Markam. (Incidentally, Gond surnames often end in ‘am’, since ‘aam’ means ‘tree’ in Gondi.)
 
Mase was admitted to Saksham in 2017. She is a diligent student; her teachers say she is always on time for her classes and is keenly interested in her studies. She passed her 10th standard board exams with “top marks” and is now in the 11th. After class she returns to the hostel, does her homework, and then spends time watching TV or chatting with her friends. She takes part in cultural programmes especially in dance (Saksham has a range of extra-curricular activities for the students).
 
We couldn’t speak to Mase directly since she had taken ill and gone home for several days. We couldn’t converse with Somari on the phone, either, since she speaks Gondi and isn’t fluent in Hindi. Therefore the warden of Saksham II, Rama Karma, got a teacher to gather the information we needed from Mase and pass it on. She indicated that her dream was to become a teacher so she can “brighten the lives of others”.
 
Rama Karma, whom we have previously featured in EGS, cares deeply for all the girls as if they were her own children. She says she learns a lot from them and is inspired by them. She has a special message for Mase: “Remember, a person becomes great not by their height but by their thoughts and dreams. Every day you are moving forward with new learning. Have faith in your goal, work hard, and do not give up. One day your hard work and confidence will definitely take you to your destination.”