Hi all,
Life has given us a lot,we need to value and respect it.I think this is what i realized during my first field work session.
We,a small group of volunteers decided to perform a rough scan of the areas of Thane and Kalwa,specially the railway stations.Our basic motive was just to find out children who are involved in some or the other kind of labour and get some information about their background.We did come across such children and have captured footages of the conversations with them.I would like to share a few conversations over here.
The first child we came across was 15-16 year old Sultan.He came to Mumbai around 2 months back.His basic job is to carry luggage for people on the platforms,but what moved me the most was when i realized that he also carried injured victims to rail accidents and even dead bodies to the local hospitals for which he was paid Rs 220.We could not take his footage but one of the senior porters who hired him,shared his experience about him with us.
The second child we came across was 10 year old Asma.While just chatting with her,we came across some one like us,some one supporting the same cause.Here was a person who was some where in his early 60's,a professor by profession.He didnt reveal any more identification details about him.He visits Thane station every week on Sundays and tries teaching the children over there.One amongst these children is the second child we came across.Asma is a daughter to a single mother and has three other siblings.Asma,her mother and her siblings travel every week from Jalna to Thane just to get a few hours of education which professor uncle,(as i would like to address him) provides them every week. The thirst of education which the mother has towards her daughter actually amazed me.To travel all the way from Jalna to Mumbai,just for some hours of study is remarkable and hats off to professor uncle who provides such good help on an individual level.
I have definitely asked him to join our organisation so that we can help him in channelizing his efforts as these are the people, we as an organisation want.
There were a few more kids that we came across at Thane and Kalwa stations.We have their footages as well which we would like to show all of you in the next meeting.I think working from the grass root level is the need of the hour,this is just a small begginning and there lots more to do...:)
Thanks,
Alok
Dear Alok,
ReplyDeleteMany thanks and congratulations on this writeup.
Someone has said that the best teacher to you can be the streets subjected if you really want to learn and explore.
This kind of learning,intraction would definately help us to know many unknown and undiscovered root causes of child labor and
at the same time the bigger lesson is to see that what so ever anyone questions,comments or suggests,The wheel of change is dynamic at its own.....
Kudoos to the people like professor Uncle,Sometimes I think Do we actually need RTE kind of rules ?
What if we can get some more people like him instead.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAlok,
ReplyDeleteHow do you think/suggest local authority can help these children?
Can we come up with few suggestions to local authorities to help the child labourers working at railway stations?
A very candid blog and honest work indeed.
Hi Krishna,
ReplyDeleteWhat we observed is that out of the few conversations we had majority of the kids did not want to study when we asked them this question,except for the one girl mentioned.They are working as their families are dependent on them..Obviously,i think by taking the ZP's help we can defeinitely try and do something for the kids,like provide them education ,or put them into a rehab centre of some thing,but i feel that the family would not allow this...
So what i feel is that definitely we need to help the kids but we need to take the family into consideration as well...this is for the kids whose families are dependent on them..
For the independent kids....i think we must take the ZP's heland try getting them the basic amenities atleast...thats what i feel..?what do u say?
Don't you think that teaching the Families should be the first priority ?
ReplyDeleteYa,i think its very important to motivate the families and the children with the importance of education.The families find no point in educating the children if he/she is directly earning money....so i do think that the family has to be taken into consideration...
ReplyDelete