Anjana Deogam regularly visits villages at the Potka block of East Singhbhum. Her initiative would fill any girl of her age with pride, and she is leading by example. Her visit to these villages is aimed at educating village girls about their health issues, including sex education and reproductive health.

The 25-year-old Anjana, who resides in Sarjamda on the outskirts of Jamshedpur, covers 40 km (up and down) to bring about a change in villagers' life. Anjana is associated with Kriya Foundation, and is educating and spreading health and hygiene awareness among village girls.

Kriya Foundation, an NGO, strives to empower every woman and child in their career growth in order to help them make informed decisions about their physical and mental strength. Anjana is educating the village girls through "It's my body" programme.

"I travel alone in my scooty and visit Heselbera village at Potka block. It's a weekly exercise which I have been into for the past two years. I think educating and spreading health awareness among village girls is of paramount importance since they are very ignorant about it. Besides overall health, I also try to focus on reproduction, menstrual cycle and also educate the girls about their rights," Anjana said.

According to her, there are changes which take place in the body of an adolescent girl which they are not aware of. As a result, they face multiple physical and social problems. "Besides Heselbera, I also cover three more nearby villages. I educate around 700 girls through this programme," Anjana informed.

She said girls were initially very hesitant in the initial period of her visits to the villages. The girls are least aware about sex and reproduction. "However, now the hesitancy is a thing of the past and girls have become very forthcoming and inquisitive about their health issues. They are keen to know and get educated about sex and reproduction. I am very happy with the changes," Anjana said.

Anjana added she faced problems since parents of girls were not interested in making their wards a part of the health programme. "However, it took a lot of convincing from my side before they relented. I told the parents about the importance of health education and how it would benefit their children. The elders in the village are slowly and steadily understanding the importance of health education but I think a lot more needs to be done," she elaborated.

"We got to know about our rights ever since didi (Anjana) started visiting our village. We now tell our parents that like boys, girls can also do all the work," said Dukhni Soren of Heselbera village.

"Our parents did not allow us to leave home and play games. But now we are playing football and also becoming aware about the menstrual cycle and taboo attached to it. We are no less than boys and have all the right to make progress in life. This happened due to Didi (Anjana)," said Rakhi Murmu of Heselbera.