Jharkhand’s pride – Daughters of domestic helps become their families’ backbone through wushu

National medalist wushu players Minu Munda and Sunita Gari’s villages are at the opposite directions in Ranchi. But their lives are moving in the same direction, from hardships to empowerment.

Both the tribal girls were raised by a single mother. Poverty remained a companion since they lost their fathers, the sole breadwinners of the families, around one-and-a-half decades ago. Left with no other option, their mothers had to start working as domestic helpers in nearby urban settlements.  

Living below the poverty line, both got the economically weaker section small houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in 2017. Before that they were living in shanties.   

A positive flip to their common story of poverty and hardships came, courtesy wushu. 

Armed with the martial art, both Minu, 25, & Sunita, 25, are empowering their respective families. This year in April, both got sports quota jobs in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) force.

“We have seen the worst in our life, losing our fathers at an early age, mothers working as domestic helps, unable to marry our elder sisters due to financial constraints. But now as we have got a job in ITBP, we will be able to break our families’ poverty line,” echoed Minu and Sunita, who are representing Jharkhand in the 36th National Games in Gujarat: “We were in dire need of a job to financially support our families.”

Minu started the sport in 2009 and won her first national medal in 2010. 

“As my particular event in wushu is an artistic display form, I need equipment and a dress that costs around Rs 25,000. Earlier I used to borrow equipment from other players, later I bought second-hand and when I got a state-government scholarship for winning a national medal, I bought my first new kit after five years of joining the sport,” said Minu.

Sunita represented India in 2016.

“We used to think twice before spending money even for basic things required in sports. I even did a part-time job, so that I can contribute to the family's income and fund my training,” said Sunita.