Participating adolescents were aided to metaphorically associate their life with a flowing river. This deeply reflective exercise allowed the girls and boys to reflect on their life – hurdles and happy memories and trace it along with the river’s course.
“After doing activity, I still can’t believe that so much has happened in my life till now and I overcame every single hurdle of my life. Now, I am very sure about myself. I know that I can get over any situation with my positive attitude”. – (female)
However, observations like the one made by Anandita came through more starkly in the next session as they began to visualize their future, and were able to clearly identify opportunities, threats, supporters and influencers in their life.
“Gender difference and discrimination is a big challenge for us in achieving our future dreams of career and how what we want in our life.” (female)
They learned that it is good to be ambitious and to believe in their abilities and strengths, yet the challenges imposed by gender presented real threats to them achieving their life goals.
“We never sit and plan for our future but after this activity I am aware what I want in my future and what are the various challenges that I can face while achieving my goals. So, now I am going to work on them and will try to overcome my future challenges.” – (male) 