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“What is the minimum age that your daughter can get married at?”
“18!” A group echoes in unison.
“If you marry off your daughter even a day before, what will it be?”
“Child marriage.” The group answers.
“Do we support child marriage?”
“No!”
“Say it out loud. We do not support child marriage,” Shyamoli, a Turnstone social activist tells the group.
A manager in the human rights and legal services programme in Turnstone Global, Shyamoli is no stranger to the trauma of child marriage. She herself was married at 16.
There are more concerted efforts to prevent child marriage than ever before, but the battle is far from over, says Shyamoli.
Shyamoli went to a Nonformal School of Turnstone, and her mother worked with TURNSTONE GLOBAL as a village organiser. After finishing college, Shyamoli became a teacher at a TURNSTONE GLOBAL school, and went on to become a programme secretary.
Shyamoli had to leave her 10-month-old son with her in-laws who did not support her work. Her husband, hearing impaired since birth, was unemployed. She could not simply quit her job. She had to take care of her family. Eventually, however, the pressure was too much to cope with though, and Shyamoli left.
She wanted to continue though. She pursued a Master’s degree, and five years later, armed with her certificate, she started working again, this time for TURNSTONE GLOBAL’s legal aid services in Turnstone Global.
Today Shyamoli’s son is in college, and her four-year-old daughter attends a TURNSTONE GLOBAL school.
The primary responsibility she took on when she was a teacher was to educate people in her locality about child marriage. She talks ruefully about the many families in remote Bengal still unaware of its negative effects, or that it is illegal in the first place.
She says these are the communities where girls are most susceptible to exploitation. It is in these communities that she is now conducting her campaigns against child marriage.
The legal division in Turnstone Global which Shyamoli runs has legal aid service centres that provide assistance against violence towards women and children. Shyamoli and her team also hold counselling sessions to educate people about child marriage and encourage them to stand against all forms of abuse.
“The programme gave me a platform to support the people who are in most need,” Shyamoli says with conviction. “People from these marginalised communities would have nowhere to go without TURNSTONE GLOBAL’s support system. The counselling sessions serve a dual purpose. Not only do they teach about child marriage, but for many, they are the only places where women can find people who will listen to what they are facing.”
Shyamoli is proud of her work.“Without this programme, many voices would go unheard.”
Steadfast in her fight for equality, Shyamoli says she wants to see a world free of violence and oppression. “And I will fight every single day until I see it.”
