By Joyce Connolly | Honorary Director
Meet Manusha, one of the newest residents at our farm. She's really taken to the life your support offers at our rural retreat. Thanks to you she has cultivated a new interest which she is using to further her education.
we are so proud to tell you that she is the first female graduate of the first cohort of our Agricultural Technology Assistant training course. The 45-day residential course aims to create a new generation of agri-entrepreneurs and agriculture technology assistants with the functional knowledge and skills to apply agricultural technology in rural farming communities and is partly delivered at our own bio-farm.
Manusha has come a long way since she first landed at our women’s shelter with her seven-year-old son Pratik, bearing the physical and emotional scars of domestic abuse after fleeing her violent husband. She doesn’t like to dwell on what happened and is very self-conscious covering her scarred arm with carefully-placed scarves. her facial scars are harder to hide however, it hasn’t knocked her confidence or ambition and while at our shelter she continued her studies and became an advocate for girls’ education as a street player during our Malala campaign, performing in front of thousands.
A few months ago, she moved the few kilometres from our shelter home to our farm to take advantage of the tranquil, rural setting. She settled in with the close-knit family community there very quickly, developing an interest in the workings and management of the farm. When we started recruiting for our new course we were keen to nurture this interest and encouraged her to apply. After successfully passing the rigorous recruitment process she took her place among young men from our local rural communities.
Being the only girl in class of over 30 didn’t daunt her and she recently graduated with flying colours as well as gaining great knowledge and even more confidence. She's already taking more of a lead in the running of the farm and helping improve our farming techniques. We believe the seeds have been sown for a great future and she has the potential to go far, watch this space…
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