She Ran Away to Learn—And Came Back to Change Everything

Growing up in an Adivasi village in Jharkhand, Jacinta Kerketta never imagined she would become a voice for her people. In this episode of What Takes Root, Jacinta recalls how she fled violence in her home and journeyed to the unfamiliar and often hostile world of the city in search of an education. Moving between these two realities, she’s forced to confront caste, gender violence, and the erasure of her people’s stories.Jacinta finds her purpose in writing, where she can challenge harmful narratives about Adivasi communities and carve out space for her own voice. But her work doesn’t stop there—what starts as one young woman’s determination to get an education grows into something much larger.Returning to the villages that shaped her, Jacinta begins organizing with girls like her—creating spaces to write, speak, and imagine new futures.