Women that make Mirakle(s) happen.

As Dhruv has mentioned in an earlier post, the girls working at Mirakle are fantastic. Both as people who endure the testing trials of life and as employees who, despite it all, work hard and responsibly to make Mirakle Couriers what it is. They are the engines of the operation. Last week, Rian interviewed some of our leading ladies in the churchgate office to get their inside stories so that we can share them with the world. It is important to know what some of these deaf women go through in order to understand what Mirakle trying to change. To understand what is happening behind those bright orange uniforms. These are the women that make Mirakle happen:

Vanita

Coming from a family where all her siblings are deaf, Vanita is an upcoming leader within the deaf community. Her leadership role has put her in the supervisory position at Mirakle Couriers. She has a huge responsibility and she takes it seriously. Born deaf in Mumbai, Vanita is 22 years old. She also went to a deaf school in Mumbai and did so well that her family believed she would succeed in a hearing school. She was then enrolled in Jabia Bai School but had trouble understanding the teachers as no one used sign language. Vanita knows she would not learn much if she stayed at the school, so she pressured her parents to transfer her back to a deaf school.

Vanita believes in equal opportunity for all deaf women in India, and to stay true to her belief she volunteers at the Deaf club in Mumbai sometimes, where she educate deaf women about marriage, survival and motivates them to take charge in their life and not to let anyone oppress them. Vanita hated the fact that some deaf women are being abused and wish to become a counselor to tackle that problem.

Despite being deaf, Vanita knows that she has a lot of potential and the abilities to perform well at anything she chooses. She found a job as an interpreter for deaf workers at Santacruz Electronics Export Processing Zone (speez) in Andheri. Her responsibility was to be a mediator between the deaf management and the hearing workers. After one year, she wanted to challenge herself to do something else so she decided to take up English and computer courses in Mumbai to sharpen her skills. After the courses she was an intern as a teacher at a deaf school in Mumbai. Vanita did not feel challenged enough at the deaf school. She is someone who does not believe in being pitied and refused to have people think that she can not face challenges because she is deaf. Dhruv, was looking for someone who has the potential exactly like Vanita, and her older sister who was a former worker at Mirakle at that time, could not think of a better candidate than Vanita and asked her to join Mirakle. Vanita wasted no time is joining Mirakle and is very glad she did. Vanita’s co-workers look up to her. Vanita hopes to go to University to get her BA in Education.

Nilam

Twenty seven years old, married and mother of one, Nilam was also born deaf. She hails from the town of Dombivali. She has a deaf brother and a deaf sister. She went to a deaf school in the eastern part of Dombivali. After graduating from school, she could not find any jobs so she took tailoring and cosmetology classes. She got married to a deaf guy at the age of 24. She later found a job as a packer but was not satisfied with the job. She was also the only deaf employee at that job.

Her husband was then kicked out of his parents’ home, leaving him homeless and jobless. Her husband had to move in with her and she struggled to provide for both because she was also jobless at the time. She did not let that situation disable her. She became pro-active and went looking for a job. Nilam went back to her former employer and convinced them to give her a job again. She was successful in getting the job back but still struggle to provide for herself and her husband on an 800 Rs. per month. Her husband soon afterward, found a job and life was a little better. She then had to leave her job when she became pregnant.

While she was with child, life was not kind to her, and she did not want to keep depending on her parents for support so Nilam decided to go looking for a job again while she was pregnant. Her determination pays off, and she found a job as a data entry. She is not someone to settle for something she is not happy with. She did not use her deafness as an excuse to stay at the date entry job when she found out she realized she was not happy there. She finally found satisfaction at Mirakle Couriers when she was employed to the company six months ago. She is not afraid of challenges and encourages all deaf women to not use deafness as an excuse to fight for what they want.

Reshma

Reshma is a 23 years old young lady employed at Mirakle. She was born deaf in Mumbai. She grew up learning to lip read since her parents knew very little sign language. She attended school in Malad and Dadar. Reshma has been employed with Mirakle for over 1 year now. She is so determined in her work that she has become a leader among her employees.

Life was no bed of roses for Reshma. She has to work hard to support her family. She has a very curious mind and always wants to learn about what is going on around her. It is no wonder that she often got into physical confrontations with her siblings. When her siblings are watching the news on TV and she wants to know what is going on, they pushed her aside, refusing to explain for whatever reasons. Reshma is not someone who backs down from confrontations, so fights often erupted between her and her siblings. It is sad that, not many people understand deafness and the fact that they contributed to the hard life of deaf people when they kept pushing them aside. Reshma refused to let the situation make disabled her.

Thanks, to Reshma outspoken mind and strong personality, she did not let the refusal of her siblings to interpret the news for her, cause her to become ignorant of what’s going on in the world around her and her beloved country, India. Reshma is looking forward to getting married this March.

Through all their turbulent hardships, they arrived here at Mirakle. I have only been here a week but from what I have seen the girls are quite happy. They work diligently, independently and responsibly; but still find moments to giggle and gossip. Dhruv tells me they love to gossip. They are quick and eager to learn new things, whether it is new computer software, or new methods of organization. They are well respected among their co-workers and even looked upto by some of the newer, less experienced girls.

It is an incredible thing to bare witness to: the empowerment of women who refuse to be disabled by their living misfortunes and who strive to fulfill their god given potential as a human being.

Mirakle Couriers acts as a vessel for this process. Here we constantly encourage them to smash the false limits placed on them by a close minded society. I look forward to watching these girls continue to grow and see new ones follow in their footsteps.

Rock On.

interviews conducted and written by Rian Gayle
Intro and conclusion by Rohan Mehta

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