Shantha Pedru Dodmani from Tatwangi village in Haliyal taluk, Uttara Kannada district, has been training for four hours every day to participate in the TCS World 10k run in Bengaluru on Sunday. She will reach Bengaluru on Saturday. Shantha is the first woman from the Siddi tribal community – a tribe of African descent – to participate in the run. She works as a field officer for CherYsh Trust, a not-for-profit organisation working in Haliyal to bring livelihood opportunities to women in the region.
On Sunday, Shantha will be running to raise funds for the CherYsh community kitchens in Haliyal.
The kitchens recently delivered a 100-kg sambar powder order to Akshaya Patra’s Hubli kitchen, often cited as the world’s largest community kitchen. The CherYsh community kitchens needs better infrastructure and logistics to scale their operations.
Shantha says the marathon is a great opportunity for her because she was always interested in sports. Lack of support, opportunities and resources made her give up her dream. She’s happy to take the opportunity. “A lot of my community members are interested in academics and others are outstanding athletes, but opportunities are hard to come by,” she says. Poverty forces young girls to drop out of school and join their parents to labour in agricultural fields, which at best provides seasonal income. “There is nobody to help and encourage those who are determined to study,” says the young lady who has a Master’s degree in Social Work from Rani Chanamma College and wants to help other young women complete their education and become financially independent.
Shantha trains from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. every morning and puts in another two hours in the evenings. “My family and community are really pitching in to help. I couldn’t have got so far without my mother,” says the gutsy young lady who has become a mini celebrity in her community.
