She lost her mother at a very crucial time when family responsibilities started mounting on her shoulders, but Martha Dukru never stopped believing in herself and her ability to contribute to the society. Today, she is a household name in the rural Chakhesang area but then, even that wasn’t without struggles. Replacing her mother in every sense after they lost her, Martha played her role efficiently, both at home and outside. It wasn’t easy because she came from a big family and her siblings were all younger to her.
But when she picks her heart and starts talking about her dreams, one could see the passion that is so deep inside her. “I’ve always wanted to work for people…my home environment and upbringing have always inspired me to do this kind of work” she states.
Eight years into her profession as a Social Worker, she has pretty much lived up to her commitment in serving the rural poor. She started off as an Animator for a Self Help Group under DAN Development Association for Nagaland right after completion of her Class XII.
With varied experiences in hand, she is now coordinating for 32 Self Help Groups exclusively in Pfutsero and Kikruma Block, covering up to 12 villages. However, she has extensively travelled to most of the villages in Phek district solely on account of working for the welfare of the rural people, particularly the uplift of economic, social and women empowerment”.
‘Sometimes it’s discouraging because people think SHGs have easy access to money’, which, she says isn’t true and points out this is one of the challenges that she has to deal with. But enlightening more on her job, she explains that the institution she is working on is with more emphasis on social and women empowerment. She regrets that although our land is rich in resources, we do not know how to make use of them and in this regard expresses “we train people on these things to help them become self-reliant with our own resources.”
She has literally walked the miles to reach out to women in the rural areas but finds it disappointing that many women are so discouraged. “There is a lot of gender issue in the rural areas” she states, while putting across that “many of them feel the pinch of a male dominated society” and adds “they live in a very unorganised sector.”
With her heart closely knitted for the cause of women, she also expresses that she is very taken up by women rights. For her, when the subject comes up, it’s all about making the rural women aware of their rights but however points out that it is very difficult because most of them are illiterate in the villages. “It’s even unthinkable for them to fight for their rights” she says but insists that whenever she goes to the villages on field work, she tries to create more awareness in an informal way.
Even as she recalls her experiences, she narrates how she was once suspected by certain underground groups to be an ‘intelligence’ agent that they started looking for her, giving her deadlines and warnings which eventually led to her family and friends persisting on her to quit. “But I continued because I believe what I am doing is right…” she sincerely says.
And that’s how she is still in the field, finding happiness in making other people’s lives better. She firmly believes that through SHG, change can be brought in the society, especially in empowering women. There were times when bigger offers came her way from bigger and reputed NGOs, from the political arena among others, but she refused although she isn’t paid so much for what she does now. “I don’t do it for money but what is really important is what you do for the people” she says.
Over the years she has been called as Resource Person for various Training programmes including Rural Development, she has trained people in the states of Nagaland, Assam, Meghalaya and Manipur in the North Eastern States, attended the Development Dynamic Course in Guwahati, the North East Women Leadership & Panchayati Raj Guwahati, Seminar on Migration and displacement in New Delhi, India Social Forum, New Delhi, Training on Community Workers, recently the Consultation in Securing Women Rights, and also participated in the World Social Forum Brazil in the year 2009.
She has always been a country girl at heart and what she does today is a living testimony to it. And although she joined her profession right after her twelfth, she believes in education, and is currently enrolled for a graduation programme through correspondence.
She is also concerned that “many of the Nagas are educated but rues that we don’t get back to our own place, we don’t utilise the resources available…very few have the attitude of giving back to the society”. She strongly feels the need for preserving one’s culture and tradition but that, she believes can come through, only if we start developing from the grassroots level and start.
But when she picks her heart and starts talking about her dreams, one could see the passion that is so deep inside her. “I’ve always wanted to work for people…my home environment and upbringing have always inspired me to do this kind of work” she states.
Eight years into her profession as a Social Worker, she has pretty much lived up to her commitment in serving the rural poor. She started off as an Animator for a Self Help Group under DAN Development Association for Nagaland right after completion of her Class XII.
With varied experiences in hand, she is now coordinating for 32 Self Help Groups exclusively in Pfutsero and Kikruma Block, covering up to 12 villages. However, she has extensively travelled to most of the villages in Phek district solely on account of working for the welfare of the rural people, particularly the uplift of economic, social and women empowerment”.
‘Sometimes it’s discouraging because people think SHGs have easy access to money’, which, she says isn’t true and points out this is one of the challenges that she has to deal with. But enlightening more on her job, she explains that the institution she is working on is with more emphasis on social and women empowerment. She regrets that although our land is rich in resources, we do not know how to make use of them and in this regard expresses “we train people on these things to help them become self-reliant with our own resources.”
She has literally walked the miles to reach out to women in the rural areas but finds it disappointing that many women are so discouraged. “There is a lot of gender issue in the rural areas” she states, while putting across that “many of them feel the pinch of a male dominated society” and adds “they live in a very unorganised sector.”
With her heart closely knitted for the cause of women, she also expresses that she is very taken up by women rights. For her, when the subject comes up, it’s all about making the rural women aware of their rights but however points out that it is very difficult because most of them are illiterate in the villages. “It’s even unthinkable for them to fight for their rights” she says but insists that whenever she goes to the villages on field work, she tries to create more awareness in an informal way.
Even as she recalls her experiences, she narrates how she was once suspected by certain underground groups to be an ‘intelligence’ agent that they started looking for her, giving her deadlines and warnings which eventually led to her family and friends persisting on her to quit. “But I continued because I believe what I am doing is right…” she sincerely says.
And that’s how she is still in the field, finding happiness in making other people’s lives better. She firmly believes that through SHG, change can be brought in the society, especially in empowering women. There were times when bigger offers came her way from bigger and reputed NGOs, from the political arena among others, but she refused although she isn’t paid so much for what she does now. “I don’t do it for money but what is really important is what you do for the people” she says.
Over the years she has been called as Resource Person for various Training programmes including Rural Development, she has trained people in the states of Nagaland, Assam, Meghalaya and Manipur in the North Eastern States, attended the Development Dynamic Course in Guwahati, the North East Women Leadership & Panchayati Raj Guwahati, Seminar on Migration and displacement in New Delhi, India Social Forum, New Delhi, Training on Community Workers, recently the Consultation in Securing Women Rights, and also participated in the World Social Forum Brazil in the year 2009.
She has always been a country girl at heart and what she does today is a living testimony to it. And although she joined her profession right after her twelfth, she believes in education, and is currently enrolled for a graduation programme through correspondence.
She is also concerned that “many of the Nagas are educated but rues that we don’t get back to our own place, we don’t utilise the resources available…very few have the attitude of giving back to the society”. She strongly feels the need for preserving one’s culture and tradition but that, she believes can come through, only if we start developing from the grassroots level and start.
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