A Girl Selling Flower

 12 year old girl grew up in the street. Her father took her out of school when she was in 5 grades and sent her to work for selling flower .Her rights are humiliated of going to school and she was earning for her family.

 She told us that for her responsibility mean to listen to his father. She told us that she did not enjoy the work but she does it for his father. She also told us that she don’t know that what is her responsibility towards her self and her parents responsibility? She dreamed to carry on this work.

                We thought she was unhappy because the mindset of her about responsibility has change her life .we also thinks that it is important to understand the value of our responsibility. We should not execute our responsibility in wrong way because it can make his/her life unsatisfactory.

image source:http://www.alamy.com/thumbs/6/%7B95884A0B-0C76-4E4D-9DDC-4FC32003D15C%7D/CEGWTH.jpg

The Garage Boy

The boy grew up in a poor and violent home. He told us that “his father would always spend his salary in alcohol”. After drinking alcohol father of the child would beat him and his mother because of this problem child stared working in the age of thirteen. He repairs small parts of car in garage.

He had left his school while he was studying in 3^rd STD. The word responsibility means to him is to take care of him.

 He was unable to answer that what are his parent’s responsibility towards him.

 He was also unable to answer two general knowledge questions like who is prime minister of India and what are child rights and human rights?

After listening to him we thought why do some people drink so much which after that they become mad and start hitting their wife or children .Do alcohol is need of human?

Then why to spend so much money on alcohol? Alcohol kills people. People should think before drinking alcohol that if they will die who will take care of their family? Are they leaving their responsibility incomplete or not? What do you think? 

image source:http://www.vancouverdesi.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/520511426small.jpg

Fisher Boy

Today’s story is about a boy who catches fishes and sells It. The boy may be 12 years old. Before going to him and take his interview, we were scared because the boy worked very close to our area and there were also some people from our community who sell fish. We both thought what they will think about us but my friend Akash ahire said in a courageously “chal ek bar try toh karte hai”.

The boy was working with his friend. He was in a joky mood.  We went towards him and tried to communicate with him. The boy told us that he catches fish and sells for whole day.

He also told us that he had studied till 5^th STD. One of the reasons he gave

Why he works is that because his mother is ill for long time and father always spends money in drinking. For him responsibility means to take care of his parents and earn money. He told us that he worked for his mother. For him parent’s responsibility is to take care of his child but it did not happened .His father never goes to work and he drinks alcohol from his son salary. When we asked about his dream he told that “nothing can  happened“. He was not able answer our general knowledge question is prime minister of India? And what are child rights and human rights?

   The boy was just 12 years old and in this age where he should play and have fun but he was playing with his life. We also think that here his right was affected because of his father who had passed his responsibility for his own benefit without thinking about his son's future and his responsibility towards him. Why today he/she using his power in a wrong way? why today it has become difficulty for an individual to take his own responsibility? why? I think that irresponsibility leads to child labor. Think on it.

                                                 STOP CHILD LABOR
image source:http://farm1.staticflickr.com/35/101957770_16da232a1c_z.jpg?zz=1

Child Who Works In a Hotel

Today’s story is about a boy who works in a hotel .Yesterday, it was his birthday and he turned 17.His name is Vishal*. He failed in standard 10^th. His dad works as a washer man and his mother is a housewife in his hometown. He came from other state to Mumbai. He has been here for 1.5 years. Now he lives in hotel where he works. He works Every day from 6:00 am to 10:00 pm. He only gets 2 hours for rest.

We asked him “Did you come here voluntarily or your parents force you to?” He replied “No! I forced my parents to let me go.” He was able to answer that who is prime minister of India. But he was not able to answer, what are child rights and human rights? Then Akash asked him “Do you know what your rights are?” He answered, “I have no rights, but I’ll make my own rights.” He also said he came here (Mumbai) because he felt that there were financial problem in his house. He has 2 younger brothers. He thinks responsibility means for him is to take care of his family. We asked him, “don’t you think it is your parent’s responsibility to take care of you?” He said, “Sometimes parents face problems (financial) but are not comfortable asking their children to leave their education and start working.”

At the beginning of our interview we asked him “do you go to school?” He said, “No I don’t go to school I left my school when I failed in 10^th standard. But I want to go because my aim is to become a businessman.” He craves to study further but because of his job he can’t study. 

After this talk we had some questions in our mind: Why are people giving chance to their children so that they force them to let them work? Why can’t our friends, teacher etc. think about friends or students?  Like this child who had low confidence when he failed,

why could his friend or teachers not motivate him in a positive way? Isn’t it is our responsibility?

* The name of the child is changed to maintain privacy.

Image source: http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20071127/hry3.jpg

Child in The Market

In the area like Crawford Market where thousands of people come to sell or buy the product, I had seen something different. In that market where the product was a child and owner was his father. I saw that the child was sitting on the wheel chair with his father. His father was begging. The child was about 14 years old and seemed like he had gone to school. When I ask the question relating to responsibility like

1) What do you think, doing the work at your age is your responsibility to take care of your family?                                        
2)  What is your parents’ responsibility?                                           
3)What do u mean by responsibility?

The child answered, “My responsibility is to beg to fulfil my stomach and my family.” he told me that his parents’ responsibility was to take care of him and they do that by providing him a wheel chair. He also told me that for him responsibility means to earn money for his family and for him.

I wonder how are the guardians of this child who just think that providing a wheel chair was their responsibility and tell him to beg? The most shocking part for me is that in that market, people are seeing that child as a product by giving him money just because he was begging.

         
image source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/US_Navy_050106-N-9951E-005_A_busy_crowd_at_a_market_place_near_Banda_Aceh,_Sumatra,_Indonesia.jpg

The Future Of Child Labourer

Today we met a boy on the streets of Chinchpokli in Mumbai. He was washing a bus. We saw that a man was standing next to him. I told that he was the child’s father. Before asking questions to child we took permission from him. After he said okay, we stared asking our questions. His name was Suresh*.He told us that he was fifteen years old but we doubted because he looked no more than ten or eleven years old. We asked “do you go to school?” He answered, “No.” But his father answered that he did not need to go to school. He said, “he will also become driver like me.” When we asked “don’t you think that study is important for him?” His father answered, “No.” He told us that what he is giving to the child is a talent which will help him to grow in future. Then we asked the child if he liked this job? He said, “Don’t know.” We asked him, “What do you mean by responsibility?” He answered, “taking care of my parents.”

We also asked our two general knowledge questions - who is prime minister of India? What are child rights and human rights? He was unable to answer. We asked him “what do you think, who is responsible for not answering our two general knowledge questions?” We saw fear in his eyes. He said, “Because I am not studying.” The child also don’t know that what he is doing will it help him in future  to become something. Today a child was not able to answer what he want become! The child was also not able to answer what is happening in his surroundings.

Does the boy really know what is responsibility? Is he ready for taking responsibility? Listening to answers what came to our  mind was why parents or guardian are running from their responsibility and passing their responsibility to others without thinking about their life and feelings.  

* name changed.

image source : http://www.visualphotos.com/photo/2x3536234/young_boy_washing_the_car_EDW04020.jpg

Conversations With a Book Seller

It was around eight in night when we were crossing the road opposite Haji Ali Dargaah and saw a boy walking with vengeance at each car with a bunch of novels. He was asking each passenger in the car if they will buy the books, with lots of courtesy. We felt pity for him. We asked him his name. By mistake, we asked him in English. However, we were stupefied when he replied in English that his name was Ramesh*. We stared at him with so many question and without seeking his permission to ask, we started bombarding on him with our questions.

How old are you? Why are you selling novels here?

He replied he was fifteen years old and sold books to pass his time. We were completely baffled by his answer. We then asked, “what about your parents? Don’t they stop you?”

He looked down and replied, “my dad left us when I was born. My mom is here. She is the only person to feed me and take care of me. She stops me every day but what to do? I am fond of this place. I was here since I was five years old.” We were surprised when he answered two of our general knowledge questions – Who is the prime minister of India and What are human rights and child rights? We didn’t expect he would know these answers.

The signal stopped but he was continuously talking to us .Then we asked him an important question, “What does responsibility means to you?” He answered us in just one word, “my mom. She is everything to me and I love her.” We both were having a good conversation then suddenly Shahid asked, “what do you want in your life?” He replied, “I want my mom always to be happy and if I would have some siblings.” So we asked why does he wants siblings. He told, “I would have good time pass with them .so I would not come here.”

After this conversation we were left with many questions. Such as is time pass his excuse or reality? Or because he had no siblings and so he spent his time at the signal to be with his childhood friends? One day we will come to answer this question, hopefully.

* The real name of the child is not disclosed.

Image Source: http://hajialidargah.in/

Interviewed along with my friend, Shahid.

Why are we doing this?

Being part of Service Learning Program (SLP), we get to understand various social problems and our roles and responsibility towards solving them. As we discussed Child Labour in one of the sessions, I realized this was one of the big problems in my community. I could relate to it because even I had faced it in some form. However, I could never understand who is responsible for it?

My summer internship at SLP was an opportunity for to find an answer to my question. I worked with Pratham Council of Vulnerable Children (PCVC) which works for the children who are working in areas such as Leather factories and streets. These children were under 14 years of age. During my work with PCVC, I helped the team to rescue children and give them better education. My role in the internship was to do the surveys and talk to those children. While talking to them, I found the external answer to my question – who is responsible for child labour? Of many things, I realized the important reasons were the condition of children, their background and poverty. But there was something more to it. I had to find that too.

After completing my internship for a month, I thought the key to my main question is still missing. I started expanding my question. First, I thought about myself. Why was I engaged in child labour? Who is responsible for it? When I asked these questions, I started understanding more. I realized the key was with me and I was searching in others’ pocket. I realized I worked because I thought it was my responsibility to take care of my family. But then I thought, what is the responsibility of the guardians of children who work? I questioned if whatever I was doing will help me grow in future? What does the word “responsibility” mean? Is working in the age of fourteen my responsibility? What is my responsibility to my family? What is my responsibility to my life? Who will answer these questions?

Through our project, I and my friend Akash Gaikwad are trying to find these answers. The main purpose of our project is to create awareness about the condition of children who are working, their thoughts and views on their condition and understand who is responsible for what happens to these children in our society.

Who are we?

Hi, my name is Akash. Akash Ahire. I am sixteen and pursuing my junior college in commerce. I am part of Akanksha Foundation’s Service Learning Program (SLP). I am currently in the 8^th batch of the program. Last month I interned with Pratham Council of Vulnerable Children (PCVC), an organization that works for children in labour. My experiences during my internship motivated me to pursue my self-project, which is an action-based project we have to undertake in SLP, in this subject. I plan to make an educational documentary to create awareness about this issue in my city in order to seek more support from you all, the readers and your friends, for the children stuck in labour.

Hello! I am Akash too! Akash Gaikwad. I am as old as Akash and pursuing similar education. I interned with Pratham IGNOU Community College in the month of May to understand the status of quality education in my country. I have joined Akash to do my self-project. This is an opportunity for me to understand this issue, my own self and my role in the future.

In this blog we hope to publish some of the stories of children to spread awareness about our responsibility. We hope you all will support us in this cause.