Aditi Panda
Odisha is all geared and spruced up to flag off the gigantic Men’s Hockey World Cup, its 14th edition on the 28th in our city. The world cup as of now is the main centre of attraction and focus with all eyes set to make it a smash hit.
In all this euphoria, the spotlight on the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, an international campaign to challenge violence against women and girls has taken a backseat. The campaign runs every year from 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10 December, Human Rights Day.
At present, the voice of survivors and activists, through campaigns such as #MeToo, #TimesUp, #NotOneMore, and many others, has arrived at a crescendo and cannot be silenced or curbed. It is clear that the method and language might be diverse depending on geographical area, the message is loud and clear that even today our women and girls across the globe are experiencing wide-ranging abuse and their stories need to be heard by the entire world.
In the above context Shanta Memorial Rehabilitation centre (SMRC) in collaboration with Population Services International (PSI) are observing this 16-day campaign in three states parallel to create more awareness on this sensitive subject and talk to people about the different government mechanisms to protect women.
To Flag off this campaign a series of street plays were organised in different areas, one among them was Khandiabandh village of Puri. Madhusudan Naik, ward member and facilitator of the event enthusiastically said, “we have very little exposure and our women even less as they still spend most of their lives in the houses. The street play entertains them and at the same time gives them lot of information. This is a very encouraging initiative by the organizers as it solves a dual purpose and with a good objective”.
The 45-minute dance drama takes the audience through a myriad of emotions and at the same time informs them about the violence inflicted on our women and at the same time informs the community of the different government mechanisms to safeguard the women.” The content and language are community friendly and we change the dialect depending on the language spoken there.
In this way our message connects with them and since it’s not preaching them they accept it willingly. Care is also taken not to hurt the sentiments of the simple village folk who expect entertainment along with the daily sermons”, said Swarnalata Jena, the lyricist and singer of the street troupe ‘Chetabani’. This local group is working in the community since last 23 years and creates awareness on different issues like vaccination, girl education, government schemes etc all around the state.
The close-knit group has only 6 members who travel together to spread awareness in a creative way. Apart from Swarnalata, the background music is given by the talented duo, Jivananand Das on the keyboard and Prabhakar Biswal plays the dhol. The energetic dancer pair comprises of Snehalata Samal and Rashmi Ranjan Sahoo while there man Friday is Bishnucharan Sathpathy, with multi faceted duty from setting the stage to capturing the performance on the lens.
“The music is so infectious and once the dhol starts reverberating in the atmosphere we know that we are going to get something good to see and hear. The children are the first ones to catch good places around the performing group and as the play starts the entire area is full of ardent listeners. Not only that we discuss the things heard for weeks”, said Chandan Barik, an ardent fan. 
It is very important to take cue from the organizers and establish more awareness sessions in the community through a media that they love to see and connect with to reach out to them.
