Empower women in rural India to combat blindness

“My goal is to show young women and girls that our voices and ideas matter, and you are never too young to dream big!” – Marsai, Allied Opthalmic Parademic (AOP) Program graduate

One of the greatest rewards of our work at the Jiti Foundation is to witness young women from smaller villages discover new opportunities that they never imagined possible. So many young women in India have the potential and ambition to contribute to their communities, whether large or small, and yet pathways remain limited. Through the opthamalogy training programs we support through our partnership with Dr. Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital (SCEH), these young women are building lives with new potential for themselves, their families, and their communities. We thought you would enjoy hearing about the experience of one program participant, Marsai, in her own words.

‘Even as a I child I dreamed big, or preposterous as others would say. I am here to find out which of these is true. I joined Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital (SCEH) Mohammadi in 2021 when I was only 19 years old. I heard about the [Allied Opthalmic Paramedic] course from a friend. Coming from a small village called Machala, nearly 10 kilometers from the hospital, the odds were not on my side. I was second of four children in a farming family. While I wanted to support my family financially, my parents had other plans. But I wasn’t one to buckle. I joined the AOP course initially to learn new things and also earn pocket-money. Simultaneously I completed the Biological Sciences course through correspondence. In the last few months, I also learned to do lab work, which is the favorite part of my day.

My aim each day is to do something I have never done before. In this spirit, I rented a room nearby to make traveling easy and I pestered my brother to teach my how to ride a Scooty and now I have bought one by paying in installments. Food and travel was a major challenge earlier, as I couldn’t cook or drive, which now I have learned to do. But the biggest obstacle that I had to overcome was to learn to talk well, especially in English. And being able to communicate fluently is my most significant achievement.

All my life I have had to fight to break free. But now there is no looking back. Also, since other girls from the village have started to follow in my footsteps, my parents are now accepting my way of life and I believe are even proud of me. Working here at SCEH, I am inspired to be a doctor, an eye doctor. Currently I don’t know how to go about it, but I am sure I will figure it out. I don’t want to leave this place anytime soon. I think I am not done learning…and serving. Before I came here, I only thought about myself, but now I constantly think about helping others, and I am loving the new me.”

• Marsai Martin at Her Graduation (ODT)
• Marsai Martin Celebrates with Fellow Paramedics (ODT)