At the Fempowered Films 2021 (19th March and 20th March 2021), a virtual film festival supported by the Embassy of India Student Hub, Washington, USA, some of our girl students from across India were seen in their sporting best.
Fempowered Films 2021 focused on determination and grit—Indian Women in Sports. This virtual film festival highlighted a crowd-sourced collection of uplifting and positive sports stories. This initiative was supported by the Embassy of India Student Hub, Washington, USA. Through this virtual film festival, the organisers hope to strengthen the sports eco system for women and girls in India.
AIM for Seva gave over 17 entries under the 1-minute athlete story segment. On Day 1 (19th March 2021), the introductory segment showcased shots of many of our Chatralayam girls. Two girls from the AIM for Seva Dayatirtha Chatralayam for Girls, Thennampattu, Tamil Nadu, showed hopscotch and skipping while a girl from the Swami Dayananda AIM for Seva Chatralayam for Girls (Senior), Semmangudi, Tamil Nadu, played football. One of the Chatralayam girls from the Swami Dayananda AIM for Seva Tribal Girls Chatralayam, Nandyal, Andhra Pradesh, explained her love for Kho Kho in Telugu while another girl from the Bhavani Arun AIM for Seva Chatralayam for Girls, Chinnasalem, Tamil Nadu was seen playing Kabaddi.
Bindu Sharma and Sumita Apeto, students from the Inder & Prabha Sharma Girls School (A unit of AIM for Seva), Khategaon, Madhya Pradesh, spoke of their association with a native Indian sport (Kho Kho and Kabaddi) in their mother tongues, Marwari (a western Indian dialect) and Bru (a dialect from north east India) respectively .
In her one minute sport story, Class 12 student Bindu Sharma said after she started playing Kho Kho, she developed an interest in other sports like volleyball, football etc. In a recent state level tournament, the girls Kho Kho team from the Inder & Prabha Sharma Girls School was placed second.
In his message, India’s ambassador to the United States of America, Sri. Taranjit Singh Sandhu said that this film will showcase some inspiring stories of Indian women in sports. “India’s young population almost with half of it under the age of 25 years is one of our key strengths. The Government of India is focused on realising the full potential of the youth. Sports and fitness have been identified as important pillars,” noted the ambassador.
On its part, AIM for Seva stresses on value-based education across the 101 Chatralayams (free student hostels) managed by it in the country. Students living in these Chatralayams are provided access to basic education (they go to the nearest school) and get exposure to yoga and sports and other extracurricular activities like music and tailoring.