Anushree Chokappa, one of the students at Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology shares an activity done with the kishoris at Mulluru, during their second interaction.
The activity was to draw a portrait of the Sakhi in Mulluru and identify qualities that contribute to her work as a Sakhi. If she were a superhero, what would her powers be? Where all can she travel, what freedom does she have and what has she done for the community?
Download the MS Word guide with samples of charts here-
shape_guide_portrait_of_the_sakhi
Village: Mulluru
Prakriye facilitator: Harish
Kishoris: Sujatha, Poornima, Sahana, Venu,
Veena, Bhavya, Sonika, Thejaswini
Date: 1 Oct. 2016
The girls first drew out a portrait of Sakhi Akka with details of her hair, kurta patterns and shoes. Photos were clicked at various stages by kishoris Sujatha and Veena and also student Dipanshu.
They then individually wrote down Sakhi Akka’s ‘superpowers’ on the coloured paper. The prompts I gave them were:
Hearts: What do you like about Sakhi Akka? (They answered “What does Sakhi Akka like?”)
Leaves: What freedom does Sakhi Akka have? Can she travel on her own? (They picked up on travelling and listed villages she travels to)
Flowers: What has Sakhi Akka done for your community? (They mentioned the work she does in the Mahiti Kendra)
The completed portrait:
Sakhi, in the eyes of the kishoris:
“Akka likes eating apple, custard apple and khus khus payasam” –Bhavya, Sujatha, Poornima
“She likes her sister” –Sahana
“She likes the Mahiti Kendra and doing Gram Panchayat work” –Thejaswini, Sonika, Veena
…………………..
“Savitha Akka can travel from village to village. She can go to Bengaluru, Mysuru, Attiguppe, Hejjodlu.”
………………….
“Akka does computer work in the Mahiti Kendra. She works with Prakriye.” –Sujatha, Sahana, Veenu, Sonika
“What she learns in the Mahiti Kendra, she teaches to other people.”
The kishoris chose images from the charts that represented the Sakhi- places she can go to, activities she does. A few mistakes were made (like including a picture of Jesus). When they understood it was wrong, they drew a cross next to it.
The girls enjoyed the craft activity and were eager to show what they had made to Sakhi Akka. I got an understanding of how they see the work of a Sakhi and the reasons they look up to her for.