by Father Mayank Parmar for BISmumbai

International Women's Day was celebrated at DRISTI Don Bosco Kapadvanj on 10 March 2022. There were more than 500 women for the celebration, on the theme, "Women Empowerment through Financial Literacy." The chief guest was Ms. Vaishali Swadhaar Mumbai representative, who in her speech, acknowledged the financial literacy work done by DRISTI and encouraged women to be financially literate by way of saving and investing.

The women staged a beautiful programme with various prizes distributed to 02 best SHGs. Ms Priyanka from Singhali was awarded the best 'saheli'. 04 girls from Gadiyara were awarded scholarship as they stood first in the SSC and HSC exams. 08 SHGs distributed their interests on the stage.

The expenses for the entire day were managed by the SHGs, with women coming forward to donate in kind and cash.

Simultaneously more than 80 women benefited from the Health Camp with Dr. Hardik Patel MBBS as the resource. Flyers and banners on health awareness were displayed and free medicines were given.

30 NSS volunteers of St. Mary's Higher Secondary School Nadiad headed by Girish Bhai and Robinbhai arrived early morning to set up the place and volunteer to help the women all through the day, especially in food distribution. They too put up skit, Garbo and dance based on the theme. They also cleared up the place once the event was over and did a short evaluation of the day. Most of them unanimously expressed that it was the first time they had seen such huge number of women for a programme, and they were very happy to help out. They also proposed to volunteer for the summer camp.

DRISTI Director, Father Parmar welcomed the gathering in the morning, and also proposed the vote of thanks at the end.