Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Great Inspiration - Anita and Honey bees



This is a fantastic real life story of a teenage girl from Bihar who is a great Inspiration for everyone.

Given below are her accomplishments!
1) Anita's life story has been published in Class IV text book by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in the chapter titled “Anita and the honey bees”.
2) In 2006 UNICEF chose her as one of the ‘inspiring stories’ for its girl stars campaign.
3) She was declared 'star girl' by then President, APJ Abdul Kalam. ‘Girl Stars’ is a project
which tells extraordinary tales of ordinary girls who have changed their lives
by going to school.
4) She received the "Best Bee-Farming" award from Rajendra Agriculture University (RAU), Pusa, in Samastipur.
5) She has encouraged and inspired thousands of women in rural Bihar to be self-reliant.

Quotes
a) "I wanted to prove if men can do it, so can I or any other girl like me"
b) "I wanted to study but my parents and relatives in my village did not encourage. I realised that I have to help out myself. I need to fund my studies myself. Today, I have found a place in the textbooks. I want to work for the cause of the deprived children so that they also make it to the headlines and textbooks"
c) After meeting the president she said - "It was my biggest dream to meet the President of India. It felt really great"
d) After helping children in villages to overcome malnutrition -
"I feel immense pleasure in looking after malnourished children belonging to the minority community and downtrodden sections and help them overcome malnutrition by providing dietary supplements and guidance"

STORY
Anita Khushwaha lives in Bochaha village in Muzzafarpur District in Bihar(INDIA). She went to college and pursued her Bachelors in Arts (English).She also teaches children and keeps honeybees. She has faced several hardships to become an enterpreneur at the age of 14 after her education was denied by her parents initially. After being born in a poor family of agricultural labourers and convincing them to allow her to go to school since schooling was free till Class V, she taught children to pay for her education. She also persuaded her parents to allow her handle the honey making business and within a few months made a significant profit. This made the villagers to call her a 'queen bee'. A pucca house has replaced their modest dwelling and Anita has gifted a motorcycle to her younger brother. Every girl in her village goes to school now which is a significant achievement.

Link of the chapter: The chapter is given in the format as narrated by Anita and is wonderful.
http://ncert.nic.in/textbooks/testing/Index.htm Class IV -> Environmental Studies -> Looking Around(EVS) -> Chapter 5

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