Bhan Sahu, our blogger from Chhattisgarh in central India, has been awarded a fellowship with the citizen journalism group CGNet Swara.
Bhan has actually been working for CGNet Swara for the past three years, but on a voluntary basis. She’s not only been using her mobile phone to record interviews with people herself, but she trained others to use the technology so that they could help many more people to share their stories. Despite it being a difficult task, she did it solely because she wanted people in her surrounding communities to be heard and have a voice. She talks in more detail about her volunteer work in the blog ‘Change comes when we break the silence‘.
We’re very pleased and proud to be able to let you know that, in recognition of her work and activism, CGNet Swara has offered her a paid fellowship.
She is very happy too. Previously she had no other source of regular income, but now she can pay her rent of 500 Rs (US$8.92) and pay for her children’s education – both of which she once struggled to manage. She says she is also very happy to be able to spend more time working for CGNet Swara and training other people in rural India to be citizen journalists.
Stella Paul has been working closely with Bhan to share her own story to the English-speaking world. She says,
“Personally, I am very happy. Despite all those threats, the constant harassment by the police and her constant struggle to make ends meet, Bhan never gave up social activism. Now, with support like this, she can only do better and help more people.”
Please feel free to comment below and we can make sure Bhan hears your kind words of support.
To find out more about the CGNet Swara project, visit cgnetswara.org.
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