Community Correspondents

Shantabai Yevtikar

Sarvajinik Mahila Vikas mandal is my organization. I work in the rural Khed where women have issues like family inheritance (koutumbik varsa), violence against women, issues about displacement and Dalit discrimination– bahishkar. The reason for my coming here is to give justice to the work I do, instead of taking help from others, I wanted to do it myself and show it to the government. Now I can bring to the government issues that need answers and resolutions (and tu Deepak). We have learnt how to tell our story using visuals to narrate our story through numbering the sequence and how to do the shooting by using the video camera and click photos which I have never done before. While I was learning how to photograph or shoot there were many visuals coming to my mind. For instance if I was working with nomadic people then I could visualize them, if I was working with women then I could see women, their issues and violence they may have experience, if I was working with displaced people, I could see the people walking over here. I was remembering all of this from my last 25 to 30 years of work but to shoot video or to use mobile video I was unaware of the new visual techiques necessary which I have now learnt the through VV training. During these last 25 years we were able to show only written or photo and non-moving visual documentation. Now I know that whatever work I have do can be made into one documenty that we can use to bring impact and positive results and it is with this intention I have come here. The trainers Ayush, Manish, Amol and Pawar did an excellent job at training us. I remember Pawar showing me how to place my hands on the camera. Such practical training felt easy, we did not feel any kind of a burden, the enviornment was very open and friendly and we learnt things with a wide smile on our faces. My new partner Rupesh joined me today, I told him to come and support me whilst I shot video footage. This I found very useful.

Videos from Shantabai

One Billion Rising: A woman’s fight for her rights

 
/ February 10, 2015

February 10; Nanded, Maharashtra Ashatai Lukman, after three years of married life, was beaten and thrown out of the house by her husband Ganesh. As she returned to her father’s house, her husband married another woman. Ashatai, a single woman, raised her son and managed to pay for her education....

No More Garbage Here!!

 
/ March 25, 2014

Community Correspondent Shanta Yevtikar lives in Nanded district of Maharashtra. One day while travelling through Phule Nagar area of Mukhed city, she noticed a lot of water and garbage collected in the vicinity. The stench was unbearable to the point that she felt sick when her bus stopped there for...

Women Vow to Rid their Village of Alcohol

 
/ February 27, 2014

The women of Motarga Village in Maharashtra have been fighting a battle against the alcohol traders in their village. Community Correspondent Shanti Yevtikar reports their story. Alcohol had been draining the pockets of their families for years. Worse, the consumption often resulted in the women being abuse, ill-health and for...

Surviving Domestic Violence

 
/ February 14, 2014

“The first year of my marriage was happy… For the next eight years, grave acts of violence were committed against me by my husband and in laws”, says Shivba Manohar who has, with her two children, left that hellish nightmare behind. Community Correspondent Shanti Yevtikar brings you her story from...