“Girls here face a lot of harassment especially while going to school and using bathrooms at night. I want to join the police force and stop all of this. It’s sad that we don’t even feel safe in our so-called home and community.” Says Nidhi.

Nidhi lives in the Nala Camp, Rangpuri Pahari, New Delhi. Her school Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya, is 3 km away. She walks to her school every day in Mahipalpur and then goes for tuition every day after school. At the tuition, she learns maths and science. Her favorite subjects are maths and hindi. She lives with her parents, four sisters and a younger brother.

There are an extreme drug abuse problems in and around the camp where she lives. Due to this girls aren’t allowed to leave home and are sometimes forced to leave schools too. There is also a major water issue in this area.

Nidhi attended the Child Champions programme by Save the Children and spoke extensively about what all she learned. She wasn’t confident enough to go up to people and talk, but now she has developed great confidence. Hearing motivating stories at the programme has helped her. She helped a child who was mute and blind and couldn’t communicate about the issues he faced daily with the help of an activity of blindfolding. Through the activity she learned the problems visually disabled individuals face every day. She is also aware of the Childline number and makes other children aware of it in case any child needs help.

She plays softball and Kabbadi in school and has also gone for various competitions. Nidhi also participated in a dance competition at Jawaharlal Nehru University. She loves reciting poetry but her father doesn’t support her for that.