Village Maroof Dahri is situated in taluka Shahdadpur District Sanghar. In this village mostly people are dependant upon agriculture. The literacy rate is 50% in male and 10% females. In this village Safwco intervened during the year 1997 and village development Organization formed in the same year. While step wise activities began and the activists started to participate in the trainings imparted and arranged by safwco. In addition to all other capacity building trainings paralegal training was also organized for the activists through which they got knowledge about basic legal issues like Nikah nama, FIR etc.

Bashir Dahri, Secretary of the VDO and para legal activist told that his village community is now completely sensitized regarding the legal rights especially of women and such a committee has been constituted under VDO to keep a watch on human rights violations. The training initiative taken by Safwco has enabled and actually empowered the activists to keep a vigil on the violations. Bashir is now acting as foremost activist and a local resource person on para legal awareness. Commemorating an even that occurred in his village he shared that:

“In my village an unwanted event took place in the year 2003 when a person divorced to his wife and he did not pay to her “due amount” called Haq Mahar which is obligated by Islamic law on male member while he is getting divorce from his wife. As Safwco organized para legal trainings there fore we were aware from the basic rights. I, myself took this issue very seriously and discussed at village level that all villagers put social pressure on the person that he must pay to his divorced wife her due amount as haq mahar. The matter was continuing for quite some time but the VDO members did not loose heart and continued its efforts of mobilizing the person (husband) to agree on paying “haq Mahar” to her wife and be ready for legal process. At the continued insistence and pressure by the community the husband agreed to pay the due of Rs. 25,000/- to her ex-wife.

Bashir is very jubilant and confident at the skills he has gotten through this awareness and training. “Now we won’t let any male to deprive women their due rights”, he shares with a firm determination.