Click to play videoKhurda: Diwali is not just a celebration for over a hundred women and girls in Bhubaneswar, who have lived through severe trauma, but it is also a therapy to recover from their trauma.
Twenty-eight-year old Abhagini is celebrating Diwali for the first time in five years. Originally from Bolangir district of Orissa, Abhagini was sold off in Agra after a middleman promised her parents of getting her a job.
Since then Abhagini has been physically and sexually assaulted several times that has affected her mental faculties. But since she was brought to ‘Mission Ashra' a shelter home last year, she is seeing the brighter side of life. She is lighting diyas after a long time.
“On Diwali I am remembering my parents a lot. I wish I could go back to my house and celebrate Diwali with them,” says Abhagini.
Bursting cracker, lighting diyas, making rangolis, playing music and dancing to the tune of Diwali – for these 135 odd women and their children at Mission Ashra, Diwali is an occasion that brings in a ray of hope that over shadows their traumatic past for some time; often acting as therapy for them.
“Most of the women who come here do remember their past. During celebrations like Diwali many of them remember how they used to celebrate such festivals at their home. This helps us in curing them and reuniting them with their families,” says Director Mission Ashra Gobind Pattanik.
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