Lalita Kumari is the new face of UNICEF’s continuing concern for the world’s children. By Madhuri Kumar

Lalita Kumari wants to hitch her wagon to the stars. She is now on the cover of the recently-released UNICEF’s report on ‘The State of The World’s Children – 2004’. Hers is the first Indian face to be featured here.

It all began when Amy Vitale, a photographer from the US, clicked her pictures and took them with her. Lalita’s destiny changed forever, thereon.

Six years ago, this girl, now 18, from the remote village of Kopraha, in the Sonebarsa block of the Sitamarhi district in Bihar, knew nothing but to cut grass, fetch firewood and help her mother cook and clean. Today, she is on the path of learning and teaching. A student of std VI in the Rajakiya Buniyadi Vidyalaya, she is also a karate instructor at the Mahila Sikshan Kendras (MKS). “I am working towards acquiring a black belt in karate,” she reveals. “Currently, I have a brown belt.”

It has, however, been a tough journey so far. With help from the Mahila Samakhya, a programme introduced in 1992 as part of the Bihar Education Project (BEP) assisted by UNICEF, she started attending the local ‘Jagjagi’, or awakening centre, a day school for girls aged nine to 15 years. ‘Jagjagi’ is based on the conviction that, if society has to be awakened, women who are currently deprived and silenced in many ways must be awakened and empowered through education.

Educating girls from a caste (Musahar) like Lalita’s was looked down upon, so Lalita attended school hiding from her parents and neighbours. Soon enough, she was asked if she would like to join an eight-month course conducted by the Mahila Sikshan Kendra (MKS), a residential education centre for semi-literate women and adolescent girls at Muzaffarpur, Bihar, to emphasise the need for a positive self-image.

On completion of the course, the girls would have to return to their village and record in a diary their experiences while trying to apply the new skills in their lives. Lalita jumped at the opportunity, despite opposition from her parents and brothers, and stepped into MKS in 2001.

Here was where she was trained in karate, among other things in which she began to take a keen interest. Bihar being one of the country’s most challenging states in terms of human development indicator, and deteriorating law-and-order situation, karate filled her with a new fearlessness.

She even succeeded in bringing about a small revolution among the girls of her village. Fighting prejudice, spreading awareness and helping deprived women come out of their shells, has now become Lalita’s mission in life.

“I am very happy that I am aware about a lot of things in this world now,” says the UNICEF cover girl. As Sister Mary Sabeena of Mahila Samakhya says, “There are many more Lalitas amidst us. All they need is a little bit of encouragement, and ours will be a beautiful world.”