Is being a woman a crime? This is a question I always asked myself, being the eldest daughter and the community I was born and raised in. I am a curious person by nature, and always have questioned the "WHY" of any stereotypes and superstitions that have been put on me.
This curious mindset and a purposive vision led me — the first woman in my family — to pursue higher education and live my life to its best by choosing my career and the job I am passionate about.
Hello, my name is Beauty Khatoon. I am 26 years old, and I am from India, West Bengal Do-ars border. The border is shared by two beautiful countries India and Bhutan.
I have completed my graduation in BCA (Bachelor in Computer Application). It's strange that I found out at the very initial stage that I cannot be living just working with computers for a salary with no meaning, or adventures in life and after that I started finding the actual meaning of my life.
Working for two years in Bihar, India in a remote rural area helped me to find answers to my questions. To explore more about my lovely home state and to explore multicultural diversity, I joined LP4Y as Green Village Integration Leader in West Bengal. I applied for Coach but was offered an Integration Leader position.
I worked as an Integration Leader for 2.5 years in India and Nepal, where I have witnessed the impact of my contribution for Youth coming from difficult and vulnerable backgrounds. I remember a Youth from West Bengal telling me "Coach I do not want to go back to my life, from where I come initially, before joining Green Village. I am happy NOW." This statement from the Youth touched my heart and made me proud of the mission I was doing.
When you see Youths who started their journey from scratch and now doing amazingly in their life, doing decent jobs, it makes you feel proud. Every time I get the message that change is possible in your life if you give effort and of course, if you come out of your comfort zone.
I still cannot believe that my life led me to working with young people who have a growth mindset and eagerness to do a lot of things in their life. Seeing the Youths, who are coming from geographical and social exclusion, thriving during the training makes me satisfied with the work I am doing.
The beauty of LP4Y is to work with multicultural background people, where we share different cultures, food, clothes, and mindsets with a learning and unlearning spirit.
Professionally, I got winged in my skills and uplifted myself. I got to work on a lot of projects with different centers of LP4Y.
Personally, everything with my family has changed. The people I know now are different from the people I was brought up with. It's a life-changing thing for me. They are proud of Beauty. And I am proud of being a Catalyst. They appreciate what I am doing in my life.
I am also one of the rare Catalysts who moved from a local contract to an international contract and this trust from the organization boosted my energy and dedication. From the age of 13, where I was told to get married to now working in LP4Y is a big and difficult journey.
For me, if you want to do something in your life, the first step is to come out of your comfort zone. It needs to be your call. I am happy with what I am doing in my life, and want to keep following this path, where I am the best version of myself, without filtration with society. I want to do the same as LP4Y and hope to succeed in Engaging (replicating) LP4Y pedagogy in schools, governments, and more in my hometown, to mobilize women and empower them. They have a lot of potential and change that they can bring to a society. Inshallah, one day I will!
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