There are people who go through a lot of struggle in their life but they always remain postive and also try to help others. One such person is Rehana Adeeb, who was married off to a much elder man when she was just 15 and soon became a victim of domestic violence. But with her strong will, she fought against all odds to make her as well as life of other women better.
“Being a Muslim woman, I had always lived in purdah and seen the same thing happening to other women. By the time I realized that what I was going through was not right, I was already a mother of five daughters,” said Rehana.
As fate had it, she got in touch with an NGO Disha which was looking for the volunteers. It was a bit tough for her to take the decision of joining the NGO, as she has never worked before. After some persuasion from the NGO officials, she joined it.
However, things got worse for her after joining the NGO as she did get any support from her husband and Muslim community too boycotted her but that did not discourage her. She continued working and later formed her own NGO with the name Astitiva so as to create awareness among women in her area and to help those who face violence from their abusive and alcoholic husbands.
In one such incident, Rehana helped a 9-year-old rape victim Rekha to get justice. She said, “I guess that particular victory gave me a boost. We finally managed to have them punished. Now Rekha is grown up, she is settled in her life. Even married now. We helped her study too. It feels great.”
