For Mandadi Shravya Reddy, true happiness doesn’t come from working in one’s own comfort zone. She realised that she wanted to get out of the cosy confines of the four walls and do something for the society. A common girl, with no money and power, Shravya joined civil services coaching in order to carve her own route towards the welfare of people.
Although she attempted thrice, Shravya couldn’t clear her exam. During the time, one of her batchmates committed suicide as he couldn’t clear the exam. This disturbed Shravya a lot, and she started associating with the NGOs. She found that women in broken marriages were almost on the verge of suicide and Shravya emerged as a dependable face for young girls and women across villages as she interacted with most of the women who were victims of a broken marriage. The women shared their pain and pleaded her for help.
As a person who strongly believes in women empowerment, she started conducting confidence-building workshops for women as Shravya feels that ensuring employment for them is the best solution to empower women. Therefore, she started organising training programmes for incense making, handicrafts and beautician courses.
During her journey, she met a girl who found out within a few days of her wedding that her husband was impotent. “Yet, the girl was forced by her family to stay in that relationship, so that society will not blame her for breaking a marriage,” says Shravya who then thought of initiating rehabilitation centres for women in broken marriages similar to widows.
After a lot of research to identify the most backward villages, Shravya set out on a tour across 31 districts in 31 days. She self-financed the tour by selling an expensive bracelet, and borrowing a little from her father. She informed no one apart from her family, and says, “It was a bold move and, at the same time, it was the need of hour. Even though this was for good, sarpanches in some villages did not allow me to speak to the women in the beginning as they thought I’m going to complain against them.”
Shravya had no proper food and sleep, due to continuous travel, meeting women – young and old alike – in broken marriages, shunned by their families and surviving on the hope of a miracle.
She is now busy documenting her tour and is all set to submit the report to the government. Her only goal is to reach out to women who are in need of help, and sensitise youngsters about their responsibility towards society. “When I can do, why can’t you do? One doesn’t need to spend all the earnings towards the needy and the destitute. Buying a packet of bread for a hungry person is also contribution towards building a great society,” says the 28-year-old.
However, Shravya’s mission hasn’t ended yet; she is pursuing Bachelor of Legislative Law from Mahatma Gandhi Law College to do justice to women as, she feels, the advocates are not sensitised towards the emotionally-broken women. #KhabarLive
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