She was rescued from a brick kiln, her goal now is football

Birasmuni Dhanwar was forced into child labour by her poverty-stricken parents at an early age. Every year, she would move to West Bengal with her parents to work at brick kilns and return to her village in Jharkhand during the monsoon to work as labourers in farm fields.She was rescued from the brick kilns by a non-government organisation (NGO) in 2009. Over a decade-and-a-half down the line, Birasmuni, 19, a native of the once rebel-infested Khunti district of Jharkhand, is now a national-level footballer who has represented the state in various meets. She is also a coach teaching the nitty-gritty of the game to other girls at her shelter home in Khunti and in villages around Ranchi. medium108234427“For many like me, brick kilns used to be our play zones where, after helping our parents, we used to play in the evening,” she recalls. Even though she was more interested in studying and playing, she had no option. “My parents were helpless as they couldn’t leave us back home alone.“I began formal studies after coming to the shelter home. On my way to school daily, I developed an interest in football as I used to see the village youths play it,” she says.Her parents still work as migrant workers. “I hope that one day I can earn enough to support my parents,” adds Birasmuni. medium108234332In her free time, she holds camps in schools to raise awareness against different social ills like child labour, child marriage, etc, and to motivate girls to play football.“In rural areas, people are still affected by poverty and joblessness. Convincing people to allow girls to play and study is a challenging task. I keep holding camps from time to time with help from residents of the shelter home to persuade parents as part of my social mission. I talk about my struggles and share my stories to convince them,” she says.Football, which began as ‘love at first sight’ for Birasmuni, has breathed aspirations into several other girls at her shelter home in Bhusur and in adjoining villages. The game was a ticket to good fortune for girls like Savita Kumar and Urmila Khaka, who took to football because of Birasmuni.Savita, who also hails from Khunti, recently clinched gold at the U-19 SGFI school games in Punjab. “I got into football late after getting inspired by Birasmuni didi. Whenever we get time we go with her to train other girls in nearby government schools and the academies run by our shelter home,” she says.Watch Birasmuni in action: medium nocaption108184759Master of her own movesBirasmuni has three siblings – an elder brother who works as a daily wager outside the state, an elder sister who lives in her village and a younger sister who lives with her at the shelter home. “We occasionally go home to meet our parents and siblings. But we feel more comfortable and secure here [at the shelter home],” Birasmuni says as the other occupants of the shelter home nodded in agreement. Birasmuni is currently pursuing a BA programme at JN College in Dhurwa. She is now preparing to get into the police service through the sports quota. “Local village youths used to ridicule me when I expressed my interest in playing football with them. That was over a decade back. Today, not just me, around 50 other girls from our shelter home have voluntarily joined the football movement,” says Birasmuni.“For poor girls like us, football is a means to carving a niche for ourselves and fight social taboos and poverty,” says Urmila Khaka. medium108234472 medium108234802Ajay Jaiswal, one of the founders of Ranchi-based NGO, Association for Social and Human Awareness (ASHA), which was home to Birasmuni after the NGO rescued her, says: “Birasmuni’s desire to play football has inspired others at shelter homes and is also leading to a silent revolution in the villages nearby.”In 2009, ASHA volunteers were on a field survey of brick kilns in Bihar, West Bengal and Bihar to prepare a report on migration and child labour when they chanced upon Birasmuni and a dozen other minor girls working there with their parents. They were brought to the shelter home in 2011 by some volunteers.According to a study done by ASHA in 2016 on migration status, around 9,000 families with their children had moved to Bengal, Bihar, and Odisha from Kolhan and Chota Nagpur regions to work at brick kilns that year.“That figure could be much higher now,” Jaiswal says, adding that migration exposes children to the risk of trafficking. medium108234561Jaiswal says football was alien to their shelter home or among the girls in his area. “Birasmuni’s love for football prompted the introduction of this game to all of the occupants of our shelter home as a means of empowerment. What began as a pastime has now turned into a passion for many,” says Jaiswal, whose outfit runs two other shelter homes in Seraikela and Khunti districts.Jaiswal says that ASHA was running football training centres in Jharkhand's Ranchi, Khunti and Ramgarh districts with financial support from the Central Coalfields Limited (CCL). Boys and girls from as many as 40 villages are being given free training at these centres.Birasmuni has represented the state at under-17, under-19 and other national-level school meets. “Many of her proteges have reached national-level meets,” Jaiswal says, adding that Birasmuni is now getting offers from football clubs in Jharkhand, West Bengal and Bihar.Photos and video: Mukesh Kumar Bhatt