#TogetherWeCan: The Captain Of India's National Under-14 Women’s Football Team Is Living In Utter Poverty. Let Us Help Her

Ever since P.V Sindhu and Sakshi Malik won medals at the #Olympics, India has been talking about #womenempowerment, especially in sports. While we talk about their win against all odds and gift them crores from state coffers, girls like Soni Kumari, Captain of the India’s National under-14 Football team leads an impoverished life in rural Bihar. Her team had won the Asian Football Confederation Tournament in 2013.

Soni hails from a Dalit working class family in West Champaran district of Bihar. Despite her family’s extreme poverty this talented fourteen-year-old has led India’s under-14 women’s football team to many international victories. Her struggle has borne rewards in the many sports accolades she has got for her country. Yet, she and her family live in a tiny, broken mud hovel. She has been felicitated by UNICEF and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Patna. But neither the state nor the central government has come forward to extend a helping hand. Soni’s coach reveals she sometimes turned up for practice on an empty stomach. But how is the country rewarding this indefatigable teenager for her grit, determination and talent?

Yet nothing has been done on the country’s behalf to extend her a helping hand. She doesn’t get to eat two meals a day, but she is willing to give it all for her passion for football. Video Volunteers is campaigning for her.

You can come forward and help her. The Logical Indian urges our community members to share this article. If possible, please call the Executive Officer of Urban Development & Housing department on +91-9470488468 and ask him to make sure Soni gets a proper house and training immediately.

Originally published on Video Volunteers