Jatinga woman crusader Evelyntice Sajem gets State recognition

HAFLONG: After decades of working silently for the empowerment of women in Jatinga and other villages of Dima Hasao district, 73-year old Evelyntice Sajem, a noted social worker, has been finally recognized by the Government of Assam with the maiden Sati Radhika Award.

Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal was supposed to give away the prestigious award to Sajem in Rabindra Bhavan, Guwahati on Wednesday but due to the demise of former President Pranab Mukherjee, the ceremony has been postponed for the time being. The award carries Rs 2 lakh in cash and a trophy.

Evelyntice Sajem, while talking to this correspondent, said she was surprised and very happy at being chosen for such a prestigious award. She gave credit to her parents and well-wishers.

Purabi Phonglo, District Information and Public Relations Officer, said that this was a great achievement for Sajem who worked selflessly for the society and particularly for women empowerment.

Born in 1947, Sajem's life story teachers how hard work, determination and perseverance can take women, even of remote tribal areas in a hill district, to great heights. Having attended school and college by walking barefoot 12 km up and 12 km down every day between Jatinga and Haflong, Sajem, who belongs to the Jaintia community, became a graduate in 1967. The same year, she, along with classmates Indira Thaosen, Ratna Dutta and Bharati Barman, joined as founder assistant teachers in the newly-established Haflong Girls' High School. Later upgraded to a higher secondary school, Sajem went to retire as its Principal in 2006.

Having experienced the difficulties as a woman in attending school and getting educated, Evelyntice Sajem took upon herself the task of imparting education and empowering the girls and women of Jatinga. Thanks to her relentless efforts, every girl in Jatinga and other villages nearby attended school in the past decades. Sajem also ensured that every woman knows and exercises her rights for education, health care, income generation, savings and political assertion. She had set up the Jatinga Mothers' Association about 30 years ago, of which she is now the advisor.

Her work has brought about a sea change in the lives of girls and women of Jatinga, which in turn has empowered every family in the village. Her women empowerment campaign also involves the men folk because she strongly feels that both men and women have equal role to play in the empowerment process. She has actively involved the church and youth groups in her campaign.

While she was working silently for years, it was in 2010 that noted author Dr Tapati Baruah Kashyap first took Evelyntice Sajem's remarkable story to the outside world by writing about her. In 2010, Sajem's story also featured in a book called Sense and Sensibility when Dr Kashyap won the Laadli Media Award for her story. In 2013, Sajem was conferred the Samajpran Sarbeswar Dutta Award in Jorhat while she was felicitated by the Axam Xahitya Xabha, Haflong branch in 2016.

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