These two words changed my life and perspective on the issue of child labour.
The situation in Nabi Karim drives me CRAZY
C - I am Convinced that children should not work. Not that I wasn't before but now the conviction has become stronger.
R - Its Reinforced in my mind that child labour is the most inhumane practice and that I am working for the right cause. Even if they are poor, its not an option.
A - I was and I continue to be Angry on everybody who is responsible for the situation these children are in. I am Anxious to know if these children will ever be free.
Z - I was Zapped to see a 9 year old boy whose name was 'Aazad' and a 6 years old 'Tammana'. Their names were ironical to the situation they were in.
Y - The big question is Y? This situation exists in the national capital where almost everybody works on child labour. The old saga of crisis of collaboration between NGOs and the governmental departments continue.
I could not sleep for two nights when we were conducting the need assessment in Nabi Karim. Whenever I closed my eyes, the images of the lanes, the sounds of sewing machines, the face of 'Aazad' and many of his friends continued to haunt me. I kept thinking what would Aazad be doing, will he be sleeping or still up working? I was so restless that I just could not sleep. There were a lot of questions in my mind. I discussed it with my seniors but some questions just did not have any answers.
I woke up at 3am and started penning down my feelings and the findings of the need assessment. It was 6.20pm by the time I was through; the findings remained but the feelings had vanished from the report. I remember one of my senior colleagues telling me...don't make an emotional appeal....just give out the facts. But the biggest fact remained that overtly and in broad daylight, in the heart of the country's capital, in the consituency of the Hon. HRD Minister who was instrumental in passing the right to education bill, there are hundreds of children rotting in leather factories. I failed to understand how one cannot but get emotional.
When the Drop-in centre began on 15th Aug, it was a mere coincidence. It was the first step towards the aazadi of 'Aazad' on the 62nd Independence Day. I was elated at the sight of the children coming in to the centre. To watch them play with a ball or carom board was extremely blissful; they wanted to be in the centre and to play. The faces of all the shelter children in Mumbai and Andhra Pradesh crossed my mind. I thought they would also have been in the same situation once upon a time....but today their lives are changed. 15 minutes later, the children started leaving. My heart sank...they were going back to that hell.
"Abba, main padna chahta hoon". When i read the first sentence of the letter by Anwar Ali to his father, i had tears in my eyes. Its shameful that a child in this country has to plead for his right to be educated. It once again put things in perspective. His next line on the lack of water and food in Nabi Karim hit me the most. I feel that all those people who say...don't rescue children because there is no proper rehabilitation, bad education system, they are better off working or that Bihar is so poor they would continue to work etc etc....these people should be made to work in Nabi Karim for a month. This would help them understand the situation better.
Nabi Karim was and continues to be an unfinished business for me. This experience took me 4 years back to my past when I had decided to quit microbiology and join social work. There was anger, frustration and a fire to be the change. Today, exactly years later I still feel the same. It will take a long time, but i want to make sure that Aazad is freed one day. Then I can finally write a report titled "Goodbye to the Lanes of Nabi Karim".
Uma Subramanian
The situation in Nabi Karim drives me CRAZY
C - I am Convinced that children should not work. Not that I wasn't before but now the conviction has become stronger.
R - Its Reinforced in my mind that child labour is the most inhumane practice and that I am working for the right cause. Even if they are poor, its not an option.
A - I was and I continue to be Angry on everybody who is responsible for the situation these children are in. I am Anxious to know if these children will ever be free.
Z - I was Zapped to see a 9 year old boy whose name was 'Aazad' and a 6 years old 'Tammana'. Their names were ironical to the situation they were in.
Y - The big question is Y? This situation exists in the national capital where almost everybody works on child labour. The old saga of crisis of collaboration between NGOs and the governmental departments continue.
I could not sleep for two nights when we were conducting the need assessment in Nabi Karim. Whenever I closed my eyes, the images of the lanes, the sounds of sewing machines, the face of 'Aazad' and many of his friends continued to haunt me. I kept thinking what would Aazad be doing, will he be sleeping or still up working? I was so restless that I just could not sleep. There were a lot of questions in my mind. I discussed it with my seniors but some questions just did not have any answers.
I woke up at 3am and started penning down my feelings and the findings of the need assessment. It was 6.20pm by the time I was through; the findings remained but the feelings had vanished from the report. I remember one of my senior colleagues telling me...don't make an emotional appeal....just give out the facts. But the biggest fact remained that overtly and in broad daylight, in the heart of the country's capital, in the consituency of the Hon. HRD Minister who was instrumental in passing the right to education bill, there are hundreds of children rotting in leather factories. I failed to understand how one cannot but get emotional.
When the Drop-in centre began on 15th Aug, it was a mere coincidence. It was the first step towards the aazadi of 'Aazad' on the 62nd Independence Day. I was elated at the sight of the children coming in to the centre. To watch them play with a ball or carom board was extremely blissful; they wanted to be in the centre and to play. The faces of all the shelter children in Mumbai and Andhra Pradesh crossed my mind. I thought they would also have been in the same situation once upon a time....but today their lives are changed. 15 minutes later, the children started leaving. My heart sank...they were going back to that hell.
"Abba, main padna chahta hoon". When i read the first sentence of the letter by Anwar Ali to his father, i had tears in my eyes. Its shameful that a child in this country has to plead for his right to be educated. It once again put things in perspective. His next line on the lack of water and food in Nabi Karim hit me the most. I feel that all those people who say...don't rescue children because there is no proper rehabilitation, bad education system, they are better off working or that Bihar is so poor they would continue to work etc etc....these people should be made to work in Nabi Karim for a month. This would help them understand the situation better.
Nabi Karim was and continues to be an unfinished business for me. This experience took me 4 years back to my past when I had decided to quit microbiology and join social work. There was anger, frustration and a fire to be the change. Today, exactly years later I still feel the same. It will take a long time, but i want to make sure that Aazad is freed one day. Then I can finally write a report titled "Goodbye to the Lanes of Nabi Karim".
Uma Subramanian
Thanks for making emotionally strong enough to reawaken the craze,reinforcement and the anger against the whole process of child labor.All the best.Soon the day will come when Aazad will be 'Aazad'(free).
ReplyDeletethanks lopamudra.
ReplyDeletepratham
it's very great and informative post.
ReplyDeleteRegards
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