Damage once done...

Child labor (in general, child abuse or exploitation) is an extremely complicated subject. The causes are many, so are the effects. It goes well beyond one's imagination to realize how long-lasting and detrimental an effect these despicable acts tend to leave behind on a child's mind and in many cases, freeing them from bad memories of the past is almost impossible. An eye-opening video that touches upon this is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLbRjYq4bQ8

Today, many governments worldwide prefer to err on the safe side when it comes to dealing with terrorists. Is it high time we follow suit and adopt a more hardline approach in dealing with child abuse and child labor as well?

Together We Can Reach The Goal

I think many of my friends have already written about child labour, its cause and effect. What I would wish to focus is the problem of school drop outs and how we can work towards sustainibility of every street children's education. As a fact if we as responsible citizens do not think and reach out towards the sustainibility of education it would be very difficult for us to fight against child labour.

Let me start with a very simple example, the maid who worked in my house back in India had four children. Out of the four the elder daughter was married and the
other three worked in different areas to earn bread for the family along with their mother.Their father had died long back, hence children were mainly the sole earner
of the family. The second daughter was of the age around 16-17 who used to share the responsibilty along with her mother to wash dishes, the third son around the
age 14 used to work in a local factory(biri making), the fourth son around the age 11-12 used to work in a local tea shop in the evening and during day time he would attend the nearby government school with some very nominal fees. One day I asked my maid that if the charge of the school is very nominal and if we support her then will she agree to re-admit the other two children who were already a school drop out at the age of 14 and 16 respectively? The answer that she gave was a very common
answer I am sure each one of us is familier with. She replied saying "Didi beshi porashona koriyee ki hobe tokhon to ei soob choto khato kaaj korbee na aar boro
chakri paoyaa to amder shadhee r bayiree.Tayi songsar e ekhon ja aschee tokhon tao ashbe na". Oi nirokhorota dur hoyechee, bus train er number portee paree, nijer
naam soi kortee paree setayii aneek. Let me translate the meaning in english for non bengali speakers.It means "What would be the benefit of re-admiting and giving
the children the opportunity to learn more in life? As, if they go for higher education i.e continue school and opt for college then they will not be willing to work in a tea stall or a biri factory. They would want a decent job. Given our economic, social and financial status what decent job will they get? Hence in future may be they will be unable to contirbute the small amount also that today they are contributing to the family. My children are not illitrate, they can read numbers of trains and buses and also can sign their names that is more than enough".

So friends I hope the example above clearly proves how important it is for us to think of sustainibility of education inorder to fight against child labour. The first step that each one of us can start with is try to convince the parents about the future of education. Most parents are really unaware about different types of jobs that are created in India today. We must convince them that if one takes interest and strives towards education and succeds well in examination in that case
social/financial/economic barriers can be crossed,it is not absolutely impossible.

But for that the parents needs to take the first step. It is we who should try to
convince the parents that they should start to believe that there children also can prove to the world that "THEY CAN".

Are we sleeping?

When we think of child labor, visions of children working in brick kilns, silk factories, restaurants, farms, tea and coffee estates spring to mind. While those definitely constitute child labor, there are other not so obvious forms of child labor we don’t think about.

CBS recently shot a reality show with children called “Kid Nation”. They encamped 40 kids in an abandoned ghost town in New Mexico for more than a month and had the kids perform on camera for more than 14 hours at a stretch, seven days a week, making their own meals. No studio teachers, parents or guardians were present.

The reason for the reality show? Executive producer Tom Forman (the same guy who did “Extreme Makeover. Home Edition”) was bored with the existing crop of reality shows.

New Mexico’s labor laws were extremely lenient at the time the show was shot and did not include television in their child labor laws. It has since been changed to ensure such incidents don’t happen again. But what of the kids who were already affected by this?

Here is an example of child labor happening under our noses. But what are we doing about it? Most of us will probably get some popcorn and settle ourselves to enjoy the first season of “Kid Nation” when it airs in fall. And what about CBS? No law suit has been filed against them so far either.

We need to wake up!

source for this blog: http://www.tvweek.com/news/2007/07/the_founding_of_kid_nation.php

Nano-WAH

Post your nanofiction response as comments!
For some samples and typical nanofiction rules, see http://www.wunderland.com/WTS/Andy/Nanofiction.html

साठ बरस से हैं आज़ाद
He was crouched in front of dirty shoes, hands toiling away. “Arre baba, see this spot!” the man said. Swish, swish, he went for the umpteeth time that hot afternoon.

All done, with shining eyes, he put words together on the discarded newspaper – “60th Year of Independence”.

Swish, swish, he wondered what that headline meant.

Show me the money!

Hillary Clinton is running for President, so is Barack Obama, Mitt Romney and a myriad others for the coveted spot. The air is abuzz with campaigns and fundraisers. Millions of dollars have been raised and will be spent for a position that pays $150,000 dollars a year for four years with a $300,000 expense account. Hundreds of people working these campaigns, sheer amount of time spent in asking for more money and expensive TV advertisements. But that is politics.

Asha for Education runs a campaign every year averaging $150,000, a paltry amount by some standards. We don't have hundreds of people working our campaigns and are counting on you. We only ask you to donate an hours worth of your time and rely on your advertising us word of mouth.

You still retain the power like the people and corporations that pour money into the coffers of the Presidential campaigns, to donate to a cause of your choice and control how we spend it. Contrary to the economics of a Presidential campaign our $150,000 proceeds raise millions of dollars worth by investing your controbutions in children's education.

Help Empower. Work an Hour.

What stops the 'state' ?

India might be shining, the BSE index might be sky rocketing, the GDP might reach an all time high ....

What does it mean to a kid who works in the tea shop, maybe within a km from the parliament ?

India has the world's largest human trafficking and bonded labor problems. What stops the 'state' that shines from reaching out to its children ? Can we just blame the 'state' for all ills ? - it is after all us, the people who brought them to power!

Why does the 'Minister of State for Women and Child Development' doesn't like being watched over the shoulder ?

Why is the Delhi government slow in listening to the High Court ?

We don't live in a vaccuum

Being part of a campaign that brings focus on something as complex as child labor is a hard thing to do. Not because the campaign doesn't sell. It sells. In the world of non-profit organizations, Child Labor is a very sexy campaign.

The difficulties lies in coming to terms with the dichotomy between the public face of the campaign and one's private experiences with child labor. Especially here in India.

For all those who've lived or visited India, it is common knowledge that children living below the poverty line can be found working in all sorts of occupations. Domestic helpers, rag-pickers, cooks, chai-wallas, sweepers are all viable occupations for a child below the age of 14. Child laborers are so ubiquitous that pretty soon one stops to notice that these are just children. Children who should be in school. And in that cloak of invisibility they remain.

So how does one reconcile these two worlds? The sanitized world of the campaign and the inter-connected, ever complicated real world. How does one raise money in support of schools that help decrease the incidence of child labor while glazing over the fact that the 18-year old girl who helps my nearly immobile grand-parents has been at her job for the past 5 years and has had limited schooling. Does the inability to do so render the campaign incomplete? A sham?

I don't think so. This dichotomy has made all of us in the WAH team try and make this campaign as sensitive to reality as possible. Right from protecting the children's privacy in the images we use to providing a section that helps volunteers and donors go Beyond Donations.

My inability to take immediate action in the cases of child labor I encounter, does not take away from the fact that the 11 featured projects are doing phenomenal work under immense hardship. Their work is making a significant impact in the communities where they operate. They are my inspiration to be the change I want to be. Let them also be yours.

Work An Hour.

1 tea spoon ground pepper...

The folks a JugalBandi have written a very nice piece about the Work An Hour campaign. This last part caught my eye - not because it fuels my narcissistic tendencies - but because they have captured the spirit of the campaign and indeed Asha very well. A spirit that says that we're all in this together and together we WILL find solutions to the issue of illiteracy and all its trappings. The excerpt below:

Our dearest friends who are active in Asha for Education easily spend 12-15 hours a week, plus a lot of personal resources to select, monitor and support their various projects. Just two days ago, one of them went on a month long visit to India. To him, “vacation” means spending one week with family, and three weeks touring India to support various Asha projects.

What they request of us is a tiny fraction of what they themselves contribute in terms of time and resources.

We, as members of the blogging community, have promised Asha and WAH to make this happen.

Think about this. We have hundreds of blogs on our blogrolls. That amounts to possibly, one or two hundred thousand combined hits a day.

If each of you, our fellow bloggers and readers, makes up your mind to donate an hour’s salary, and publicize this cause in your own little way, to family/friends/visitors to your sites, some child somewhere can stop working in a factory, a field, or someone’s home, and and start going to school.

You can read the post here.

SPOTLIGHT: Kailash Satyarthi

In 1980, electrical engineer Kailash Satyarthi founded Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save the Childhood Movement), a grassroots organization dedicated to stopping child labor and child trafficking in India.

Last month, Satyarthi was awarded with the 2007 US State Department's Heroes Acting to End Modern-Day Slavery Award for his endless work to stop child slavery. In fact, Satyarthi is credited to have freed over 75,000 bonded and child laborers since he began his organization over 25 years ago!

It is amazing what one person's efforts can accomplish! That's 75,000 children who are now free from the shackles of hazardous environments; free from a life confined to a factory or a construction site or as someone's servant; free from a life of no education.

We may not all have the time, the means or the will power to follow exactly in Satyarthi's footsteps. But he certainly serves as an inspiration that each of us can play a part - big or small - in making sure that kids do stay in schools and not on the streets or serve as someone's laborer.

NEWS: India's Silk Slaves - BBC

A few months ago, BBC news exposed the young slavery present in India's silk industry. Ashok Kumar, a 13 year-old boy, is a bonded laborer. After his mother died and his father left, his grandmother, in desperation, sold Ashok to a loom owner for US $25. Ashok must now work until his debt is paid. He earns a measly 30 cents a day, hardly enough to repay off his debt.

Find out what happens to Ashok Kumar:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6505961.stm

Watch what happens to Ashok Kumar in BBC's documentary, "India's Silk Slaves:"
Part 1: http://youtube.com/watch?v=XsYMpl_gGfY
Part 2: http://youtube.com/watch?v=-ns_KwG247U
Part 3: http://youtube.com/watch?v=0O2B8NXc4ww
Part 4: http://youtube.com/watch?v=SZSNSf4sz1E

NEWS: Slave Girls of India - New York Times

The New York Times recently covered journalist Lisa Ling's journey into India's child labor world. The documentary, "Slave Girls of India," which aired on the Oxygen network, takes a look at the harsh lives young girls endure as domestic servants and prostitutes.

Read the NY Times review here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/23/arts/television/25stew.html?ex=1340251200&en=121af943b7640640&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Catch the Oxygen documentary here:
http://www.oxygen.com/icare/slave-girls-of-india.aspx

Body, Mind or Soul?

This question has been raised before, but I would like to pose it all the same.

-----What is the rationale behind setting the 14 year age limit for a person to be considered a child laborer?------

Is it the body which at age 14 is deemed fit to start absorbing the rigors of life while seeking economic sufficiency?

Is it the mind which at age 14 is deemed to have acquired the maturity to make informed decisions about seeking a vocation/career path? In that case how do the laws make accomodations for individuals with limitations in mental abilities to safeguard their rights?

-OR-

Is it more philosophical where the soul has crossed over into the realm of reality from that of make believe?


---------Can this age limit be questioned? How?---------

Visionless Amity

In March '07 my email ID was officially inducted into the soon to be "WAH of fame". Little did I know I was stepping into a spam ring. Talk about being invited to exercise my right as an Asha volunteer, writing long-winded, unstructured, pointless, serious (amusing to others) emails! I wasted no time. Oh! Did I mention long?... ok...

By April I had also graduated to telephony and e-chat (including gtalk status bar). There wasn't one mode of communication that this team did not abuse! But that's when the thunderbolts started striking...

Infectious energy, sing-song voices, thoughtful words, myriad accents, profound ideas, strength of conviction, depth of knowledge, spark of spontaneity, silly giggles, rigor of perfectionists, conceptual flexibility, expanse of creativity, humor or lack thereof and stoic silence... I am blown away that this set of individuals instinctively inched towards an unknown (at that time and apparently even now) common goal before sprinting to the finish line (16 coffees and all)...

Yes. I profess true love.

I am in love with a bunch of people I have never set my eyes on (ok... I have seen some pictures...). Perhaps I should have titled my entry - 'Blind Love' instead... because the last thing this crew was is visionless.

I know... I know... so far it's all been a spiel about adult labor, blog about the theme will follow soon.

Seriousness or silliness?

The days leading up to the opening night were fraught with frenzied arguments. There was a blank email. There were emails in response. One hadnt collected all the project details. Another wanted to protect privacy of kids in the photographs we were using. A third wanted to have multiple back up plans to distribute monies collected. Someone wanted to have a credit roll. In sharp contradistinction, another vehemently protested. There was a blank email. There were emails in response, anagram-ed names in tow. Any by-stander would have imagined these folks were running amok after a series of scorpion bites, and could have been easily forgiven for that assumption.

In the end, what they were really doing was starting a sensitive campaign to showcase Asha projects which -- each in their own way, each to a different extent -- work on reducing child labor in different parts of India. This group of individuals spanning multiple Asha chapters have on every detail exhibited a rare sensitivity, be it privacy issues of photographs, or listening to every expressed opinion. It has been an honor to work with this team.

That said, lets look at a few common myths of child labor:

Myth: Poverty is the single major cause for child labor

• Most child laborers do come from impoverished social setting. Children start working at an young age, hence remain illiterate/unskilled; are burnt out by the time they are adults; as adults suffer from unemployment and increase chances of child labor in the next generation! Child labor, in fact, causes poverty!
  

Myth: A global ban on child labor products will force the elimination of the practice of child labor and protect children's rights

• Global ban proposals focus on export oriented products. Bulk of India’s child labor is in domestic industries (92%). Linking concerns of human rights to export and trade only serves the concerns of developed nations. Social clauses and blanket boycotts do not make any commitment towards rehabilitation of these children.
  

Myth: Children work faster and have nimble fingers needed in certain types of work, especially knotting carpets

• In various studies undertaken in carpet industries, match making industries, as well as weaving industries, this has been proved a myth.

Myth: Child labor is necessary to preserve traditional arts and crafts

• This argument hides the reality of children bonded to families, or hired bonded laborers are rarely taught any art or craft. The arts and crafts can be passed on within the child’s family as part of their socialization and growing up
  

A detailed compilation of these myths are available here.

Child labor and you.

We would try and have discussions on this blog regularly to come up with ideas for combating child labor. This post will try and gather personal experiences in fighting child labor, lessons learnt and success stories.

So, please do post your experience here!

Half a day of WAH!

Wishing everyone a Happy Independence day!

In about half a day, WAH 2007 has already reached out to 30 donors and raised more than $2750 !! At this rate we would reach out to 3000+ donors and $300K+ donations!

Do keep the donations coming in!

Know more about the efforts that your donations would support.

Learn more about the issues of Child labor.

Remember ...

8760 = the number of hours you get every year
1 = the number of hours it takes to make a difference

Note:

And, by the way, this will be hosted on http://blogs.workanhour.org in a couple of days. As soon as the DNS gets propagated all over the Internet.

Welcome to WAH 2007!

Many Asha volunteers stayed up all night to get the event rolling! We had to buy our webmasters 16 rounds of coffee to get the website shaped up and look the best ever! Please do send in a word of appreciation to him (just don't mention coffee).

Within one hour of the campaign we have already raised $500! Lets try doubling that in the next 5 hours!

Help us reach out to the underprivileged as we create history with this year's Work An Hour!

The 2007 Work an Hour Team