The Blossom Bus: Help Rural Girls Get To School!

Our Blossom Bus program continues to bridge the gap between parents’ concerns for their daughter’s safety and girl’s rights to education. Below is a story about how important education is to these marginalize girls and their families.

Nikita and Babita from Durgapur Village have been travelling on Blossom Bus for last four years and are appearing for their 12^th grade exams this year in March. Babita told us that she has two sisters and two brothers. Her brothers are working and her elder sisters are all married. She is the youngest and first in the family to reach the 12^th grade. Her brothers studied up to the 10^th grade and her sister, Laxmi, was married after she finished the 8^th grade. Laxmi stopped going to school because her father would not allow her to travel the two kilometers to Aharvan High School because of the harassment she received on the way to school. Thanks to the Blossom Bus, Babita has not been forced to drop out of school like her sister.

Laxmi, Babita’s sister, told us that because she wasn’t well educated, she was married to an uneducated man who earns a meager wage and suffers from alcoholism. He spends most of his earnings on alcohol and doesn’t care for his two children. As a mother, she is worried about the education of her children. Laxmi said that she is happy that her sister Babita will not have to face the situation that she has found herself in because she will receive an education and will not be married off young. Babita wants to go to college but her father is apprehensive about her safety and security. Babita told us, “if I can be accommodated on Blossom to College Bus, I will go to College. Otherwise I am afraid my future will be uncertain. I may not get a suitable marriage and have my life ruined like my two elder sisters who are both suffering because of alcoholic husbands.”

Nikita also wants to go to college but is uncertain as she said that her father is an auto driver and spends most of his earnings on alcohol without caring about the impact on his four children. Because he is an alcoholic he can’t drive properly, damages the vehicle frequently, and spends a lot on repairs. Nikita is terrified of not finishing school because she has seen many of her classmates get married after passing eighth grade and become mothers.

Nikita tells us, “I’m waiting for a seat on the Blossom Bus to College and hopeful of better days ahead if only I can get a seat on the bus to College!” Her mother wants her to study further so that she can become independent and earn money to support her own children’s education. She wants her daughter to get married to an educated person which she says is only possible when she receives an education.

Nikita and Babita are so grateful to the donors who have supported them. Thank you for encouraging these young women as they create promising futures for themselves and their families.