She’s an icon among the tea garden workers of Assam, meeting them often to explain the importance of menstrual care.
Women, whose nimble fingers pluck the tender tea leaves easily, are numerous among the pickers but a lack of education and general ignorance has led to a proliferation of superstition concerning the menstruation. This is where Shikha Devi comes in. For more than 15 years now, she has been educating the tribal tea garden workers on the need for menstrual hygiene, having reached out to more than 500 women across Digboi, Dibrugarh, Jorhat and Sonitpur.
“I have distributed sanitary pads, but focused more on changing mindsets, as that is critical for sustainable change,” says Shikha adding it’s been a long and arduous journey.
Born into a deeply religious and conservative tribal family in Digboi, Assam, Shikha Devi had not imagined the tumult life would bring her. In 2004, she met with a horrific accident that left her disfigured and partially paralysed.
Although shattered without, Shikha did not lose hope within. Encouraged by her mother, she managed to get back on her feet. “My mother urged me to step out of home and find fresh purpose in life,” says Shikha. By 2006, she was well enough to go to New Delhi and pursue a British Council course along with a Diploma in Mass Communication from the South Delhi Polytechnic.
When Shikha returned to her home state, she chanced upon an acquaintance who worked towards providing flood relief. That random conversation drew Shikha’s attention to how little women working in the tea gardens knew about their own body. “I realised that these women do not have access to sanitary pads and harbour wrong notions and superstitions regarding their menstrual cycle. This prevented them from approaching doctors during medical emergencies,” she says.
“I have been holding workshops to orient these women about the facts and needs of menstruation, female reproductive health and hygiene. For this, I have set up a small trust called Ray Foundation,” points out Shikha, who is now in her late thirties. She also trains women to make reusable cloth sanitary pads to avoid the expensive readymade options.
“Although it is hard to quantify the actual result of my efforts, I can confidently say that the doctors who serve in clinics in and around tea gardens have reported a significant increase of women patients coming in with menstruation-related issues and ailments. Women are now much more conscious about menstrual health,” she shares with pride.
“It is my mission to inspire people to accept life’s challenges, discover opportunities within their unique challenges and engineer better futures”
This gritty social worker has conducted workshops in the small Soraipung village, close to Dehing Patkai National Park. She also held a menstrual hygiene orientation workshop for Bodo and Karbi (essentially tribals) women in Karbi Anglong, at the request of the Department of Social Welfare. “In the village, and also in some gardens, I have had the good fortune to sensitise some specially abled women (with both mental and physical challenges) in menstrual hygiene,” says Shikha with a smile.
Shikha’s untiring efforts have been recognised by the National Human Rights and Grievance Commission, which awarded her on Women’s Day last year.
“Equanimous acceptance of all situations is a trait ingrained in me from childhood,” shares Shikha, whose family has links to the priests of the revered Shiva Dol of Sivasagar. She attributes her resilience in the face of adversity to this. “My years in Delhi exposed me to a variety of people who had triumphed against personal odds. That fuelled my zeal and ended up reshaping my destiny.”
And Shikha still sees no end in sight. “It is my mission to inspire people to accept life’s challenges, discover opportunities within their unique challenges and engineer better futures,” she says confidently.
