Rinku Kumari d/o ArunSaday and Pavitri Devi and Leela Kumari d/o Shiv Saday and Savitri Devi are from RantiMusahartola in Madhubani district of Bihar.They are the first ones to have cleared matriculation in their tola and are studying in Grade XI. When asked about their hardworking daughters, parents of both girls couldn’t conceal the pride and happiness they felt and exclaimed that their daughters were continuing their studies further. The girls too expressedtheir jubilation and determination to not think of marriage until they completed their education. The girls have taken up the initiative of teaching the younger children of their tola and encourage them to go to school with them. Their dedication towards highlighting the importance of education paid off when they realized that a hundredMusahar children from their tolawere enrolled in local Government schools as a result of their efforts. Both Rinku and Leelahave become the role models in their tola.

Rupais the second among seven daughters in her family. She hails from a village namedHarincolin inPurnea district in Bihar. With no stable family income and many mouths to feed, education was of secondary importance to her family. With her dedication, Rupacouldcomplete her education upto grade eight. However, the poor socio-economic circumstances of the family forced her into marriage.In the year 2013-14, when the vacancy for the post of a teacher arose in the Girl Child Educational Empowerment Programme through Caritas India, Rupaapplied and qualified for the same. Association with the programmehasmotivated her to continue her studies. Resultantly, despite the oppositionfrom her family and relatives, andbesides having a child, she made attempts to get enrolled in Grade IX. She put up valiantly with several systemic hurdles and disdainful attitude of the officials towards her when she sought a written permission from the DEO (District Education Officer) for her admission as the date of admission had lapsed. Finally, she received the written permissions and is continuing with her studies, whilst also serving as a teacher under the Educational Empowerment Programme. In this course, she not just struggled for her right to education, but also right to life with dignity and refused bribe that was demanded of her during the process.

A little hero, Singrai Murmu, 13, emerged as a change agent in the U3 programme. Despite his young age, he is passionate about protecting nature and is determined to make a difference. His journey to protect the environment is both inspiring and educational, and it serves as a reminder that even the smallest actions can lead to significant change.

Singrai’s family survives on 1 bigha of land; his father is a marginal farmer and often works as a labourer in various agricultural fields to earn as much as he can to support and provide for his family.

It all started when Singrai learned the importance of environmental protection in public meetings organised by the U3 programme, where he used to accompany his parents to these meetings. The U3 programme works towards fostering and securing self-sustaining climate-resilient and climate-adaptive agriculture and livelihoods through community-owned processes in West Bengal, Karnataka, and Telangana.

Whenever Mrs. Padmabati Routh, a community educator, arranged for a meeting, he would come along with the participants and listen to the speaker carefully. He showed his involvement in every meeting he attended and was inspired to save nature and preserve our natural resources from being destroyed.

Singrai didn’t stop there. He convinced his friends to join him in his mission to protect the environment. Together, they started planting trees in their community, and they put up placards on trees to stop deforestation and tree-cutting. They educated their neighbours about the importance of protecting nature and inspired them to take action as well.

His love for nature kept growing, and he got involved in sapling restoration. He cultivated the habit of sapling restoration, and wherever he would go to play with his friends, he would collect saplings from places with infertile soil and plant them in a proper place so as for them to grow and nourish. He eventually gathered his friends to go with him on his path to saving nature. The group of five children would make posters to spread awareness among the community and his fellow classmates with slogans such as “Save life, save plants” and ‘ No plant, no life on earth’.

He also requested that all his friends make more awareness-building posters and join in the rallies, cancer campaigns, World Earth Day, and green campaigns conducted by the programme. He actively participated in all the events to help influence and draw other children closer to working together and to let the community know about the devastating results of living without nature. Recently, he took the initiative, along with his friends, to hang some posters in the forest to spread awareness and prevent people from cutting trees. Through this action, he wanted to make people aware of the consequences of disrupting mother nature and the benefits of preserving and saving her from destruction.

He is the only junior volunteer on the team, and he continues his work whenever he gets time and involves his other friends in it.

Singrai’s journey is a testament to the power of one person’s actions. He may be young, but his passion for protecting the environment has inspired those around him to take action as well. His story is a reminder that we all have a responsibility to protect nature and that even the smallest actions can have a significant impact.