Child Labour - Part 2

Early morning walk by the sea shore is a great way to start the day. Cool breeze, warm sunshine, sound of waves rushing to embrace the shore, aroma of roasted peanuts and corn welcome early morning walkers and joggers to the seashore. Peaceful mornings as this are the perfect time to exercise by the beach. As I sit down on a stone bench to rest my tired feet, another pair of small legs run up to me. Looking up, I see the thin and cheerful face of a young kid, waiting eagerly to take my order for a glass of tea. I watch his thin legs as he rushes around to collect orders, under the watchful eye of his employer. It hit me hard that thus toils this little labourer from dawn to dusk, earning three meals per day in return for all his sweat and slog. (Chk this link for the real life story: http://www.unicef.org/india/child_protection_1735.htm)

Sipping hot tea, I sit there pondering over this child's fate. Three girls run up to me with baskets of peanuts, tugging at my dress and asking me to buy peanuts from them. They compete with each other in lowering the price and raising their voice to woo customers. Childhood lost in toiling hard to feed their tiny stomach. I sit back, scanning the beach that I see everyday. But, for the first time today my mind becomes aware of the fate of children selling newspapers and magazines, girls in paavadai with baskets of peanuts, small boys selling flowers, kids in bajji shops and tea stalls rushing to serve their customers,... All I see are child labourers, working from dawn to dusk.

Child domestic labour, though visible every where in India, thrives as ever and is ignored by the educated mass. Children from economically lower strata of the society end up working as domestic helps with or without their consent. When a child turns 10, he/she is seen as a potential bread winner for it's poor family. Such children are either sold off to work as full time helps in small scale commercial establishments and houses or willingly give up school to work part time to help their poor family.

Many of these children end up working part time as domestic helps and helping with house work or tending to their siblings for the rest of the day. These facts are not new to us, but are something that we are trained to accept and ignore. Society does not see child labour as a crime, unless forced to do so. We, as a part of this society, do the same that everyone else does. The kind hearted people among us show our helpful nature by buying wares from these kids, hoping that it would be of help to them. Little do we realise that this money reaches the kid's employers, and is not of any use to the kid. It also sends out the information to their employers that employing children would improve their business.

If the kind hearted people among us can buy food for these kids, it would be a better way to help than buying their wares, which really helps their employer and not them. For those of us whose blood boils to see kids forced to work, there are helpline numbers and organisations that would welcome our calls. They can do more to break these kids free from their employers and send them back to their families. For those of us who would like to do more than this, many are the ways we can help in the rehabilitation of these kids, from providing them psychological support to funding their education.

Ways aplenty to help these kids, what lacks is the will to help them. Let us not be mere spectators. A small help can save the life of a kid. What then stops us from throwing away our blindness and doing small things now and then to brighten the life of a kid?

-- Sri Saranya.