Although I am an emotional and weepy person, social causes have not always stimulated me as much for reasons beyond my comprehension. Lack of stimulation does not mean lack of sensitivity to the issues or lack of any measures to personally not be responsible for the perpetuation of the menaces. But no issue has consistently been there in my mind except for one – child labour. From the time I used to see maids bring their kids to assist them in household chores to eating at eateries where kids served you tea and snacks, this has been a rather irksome bother to me.
The first time I thought of doing something for a social cause was when I decided not to eat at a popular snack joint in Vallabh Vidyanagar, Gujarat. The eatery employed children much below 14 years old and although the owners were nice people who treated the kids with love and fed them well, I somehow could not come around to being served by a 10 year old toothless boy. The tea and the snack just would feel like a lump of mud and stone inside my throat. I one day stopped going there and did not return ever since. This was also the time when the debate inside my head started to foster about the other side of child labour problem i.e the good that the kids get out of working instead of rotting in poverty.
A friend of mine asked me why I was refusing to hang out with them in that joint and although at first I used to make excuses, soon enough I ran out of them as we all know how often college kids hang out in these popular joints. A friend of mine then stimulated the debate I was referring to earlier. He told me how the kids come from poor families who cant afford schooling, and that it will help the kids and their families live a more comfortable life if they work and send some money home. Of course we all know the deep and complex issues and counter-issues of Child Labour so I will not dig into that anymore. Basically even after all these years of conscious effort to stay away from child labour and deep thinking of the malice, I have not been able to figure out a way to help. Is there a solution that an be independently implemented without getting into the intricate web of education, poverty, developmental programmes, affirmative action etc. ?
Today is World Day Against Child Labour – June 12 and I was reading this article in the newspaper which was written by Kailash Satyarthi – Founder of Bachpan Bachao Andolan and chairperson of Global March Against Child Labour. And after 1000 words, I still remain as clueless as before. Sure we know there have been success stories, but that is just a micro-activity done to help some few kids. It is not a holistic solution.
Rather I want to know what a common man/woman like me and countless others should do in order to avoid being an accomplice or a contributor to the scourge of child labour. Should we boycott places and organization or maids who employ children below 14yrs? Should we eat and think that its better that these kids work as they will otherwise perish to poverty? Should we eat and also help them parallel with books and clothes or daily 1 hr classes on literacy aids etc? What should we do?
The first time I thought of doing something for a social cause was when I decided not to eat at a popular snack joint in Vallabh Vidyanagar, Gujarat. The eatery employed children much below 14 years old and although the owners were nice people who treated the kids with love and fed them well, I somehow could not come around to being served by a 10 year old toothless boy. The tea and the snack just would feel like a lump of mud and stone inside my throat. I one day stopped going there and did not return ever since. This was also the time when the debate inside my head started to foster about the other side of child labour problem i.e the good that the kids get out of working instead of rotting in poverty.
A friend of mine asked me why I was refusing to hang out with them in that joint and although at first I used to make excuses, soon enough I ran out of them as we all know how often college kids hang out in these popular joints. A friend of mine then stimulated the debate I was referring to earlier. He told me how the kids come from poor families who cant afford schooling, and that it will help the kids and their families live a more comfortable life if they work and send some money home. Of course we all know the deep and complex issues and counter-issues of Child Labour so I will not dig into that anymore. Basically even after all these years of conscious effort to stay away from child labour and deep thinking of the malice, I have not been able to figure out a way to help. Is there a solution that an be independently implemented without getting into the intricate web of education, poverty, developmental programmes, affirmative action etc. ?
Today is World Day Against Child Labour – June 12 and I was reading this article in the newspaper which was written by Kailash Satyarthi – Founder of Bachpan Bachao Andolan and chairperson of Global March Against Child Labour. And after 1000 words, I still remain as clueless as before. Sure we know there have been success stories, but that is just a micro-activity done to help some few kids. It is not a holistic solution.
Rather I want to know what a common man/woman like me and countless others should do in order to avoid being an accomplice or a contributor to the scourge of child labour. Should we boycott places and organization or maids who employ children below 14yrs? Should we eat and think that its better that these kids work as they will otherwise perish to poverty? Should we eat and also help them parallel with books and clothes or daily 1 hr classes on literacy aids etc? What should we do?
