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Domestic help
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12-year-old
Ajmer Alam is a domestic help. Fettered to the shackles of poverty, he is bound
within the four walls of the house where he works. Life for him is just a
gateway to hell. Taking each day as it comes, completing unending chores
tirelessly and
bearing with numerous complaints all the time, childhood is a horrifying
nightmare for
Ajmer
and all such victims of a heartless society. Their heart rending cries and
pleas remain unheard, and ignored. Sameer (15), Shankar (16) and Jitender (14)
are the young workers of lassi (curd milk) and bhujiya (fried food) shops.
Though new to their work, they have joined the large group of child workers.
Child
labor is an issue related to poverty, world resource distribution, world hunger,
the status of woman, education, economic structure and fertility. It restricts
or damages the physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual and social growth of
all children engaged in such hard and fatiguing work at a very tender age.
Roadside
tea-stalls and food outlets are thronged with child workers. Gautam (14),
Kalipada (15), Arjun (13), Konku (16) are some of the many working in tea
stalls. Gopal (14) is a shoe polisher and Bapon (12) is forced by the elders of
his family to sell mangoes. Life has taken an unexpected turn and so these
children have long lost their interest in anything qualitative. Most of them
have left their families and come to the city in search of work. Their goal in
life is to earn enough to feed their brothers and sisters and pay for their
educations.
Jit
is 12 years old. He is from
Bihar
but he has come all the way from his hometown to earn for his family. His
father, an electrician by profession, fails to make both ends meet with only a
meager earning. Jit now works in a tea stall. He feels that he would love to
study, but he does not have the money for it. He believes that this selfish
world has separated him from his family. He has lost faith in life.
The
young workers like Jit may cook sumptuous meals in restaurants and eateries, but
seldom do they get to taste the food they prepare. After a hard day’s work,
they are left to fill the insatiable appetite of their employers. They bear with
the rebuke and hurting blows for their small mistakes.
Girls
working as domestic helps in private households are extremely vulnerable to
physical and mental abuse. Minoti is ten years old living in a village in the
vicinity of Kolkata. Her family is under severe financial pressure and after her
father’s death, Minoti is the main wage earner of the family. Her mother
workes for factories but she fails to work continuously because she has a baby
to look after at home. Her daily routine consists of waking up before traveling
for three hours to Kolkata, then cooking for various families of the city.
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Nilima and Ritama |
13-year-old
Nilima is a domestic help. Though better off than Minoti, education is a
long lost dream for her. She stoops under the heavy pressure of her daily work.
Being the youngest member of her
family, she is not excused from cleaning
or working for different households. Ask about her interest in studies, she
smiles silently.
Most people prefer to employ children because of their susceptibility to
intimidation, their willingness to accept low wages and to perform monotonous
work in inadequate conditions. In the long run, children like Minoti do not get
their opportunity to study and lose their will to learn more. Poverty and
exploitation of the poor are at the root of child labor. Established social and
cultural patterns dictate child labor as an inevitable fate for children born to
impoverished families. I feel and I believe that there are millions and millions
of Minotis and Nilimas hidden under the heavy load of work all around the world.
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Carpet factory |
Feeling
the fresh air, staring up at the rainbow and smiling sun, and playing with
friends is a long lost dream for the children who work in stone quarries. The
sun has long set for them and the stars are yet to shine. Night and day seem to
merge as rest is unknown to these child workers. Agriculture also employs many
children and sometimes these children are subjected to risk by using dangerous
tools for cutting and harvesting.
Richly
designed carpets, glittering glass bangles and intricate jewelry catch our
attention in spic and span stores. We see the bangles on our wrists, we tread on
the soft carpet. But we fail to feel the pain of little children who have helped
to manufacture such items of pleasure. That child would remain unnoticed amidst
hazy shadows of factory looms and the extreme heat of glass-melting burners.
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Bangle making |
Nitai
(13) is another child worker. Though he is not a factory worker, Nitai is
severely depressed. Broken up from his family, this little boy is lost in a
completely new city. Under the clutches of his employer’s friend, playtime and
even rest are unknown to him. Scared of school or education in any form, he
would rather toil than study.
Earsplitting
blasts of crackers, colors and lights of fireworks entertain us during
festivals. We never spare a thought to empty our pockets for packets of
crackers. We never spare a thought for the child whose tired fingers made the
crackers, whose accidental fire burns have paid for our entertainment. Children
suffer injury and even lose limbs for our pleasure.
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Making crackers |
Child
workers can go without the support of their family and peers without education
and without time for rest. There are even adults around the world who buy and
sell children to make a living. These children are sold as slaves and servants.
No magic word or deed can end the atrocities endured by child workers.
There
are many approaches to ending child labor but not one magic solution.
Poor
education and child labor are opposite sides of the same coin. It is much easier
to monitor school attendance than to inspect factories and workshops. It is also
easier to convince parents to send their children to schools than to forbid
employers to employ children. Few countries can be proud of the limited
resources they put into their children’s education. Governments must make
education and reducing poverty level higher priorities. Replacing child workers
with their parents (many of the parents are still unemployed) could actually
increase a family’s income because adults are more highly paid.
Another
remedy to child labor would be to have the countries of the world ratify a
document that protects children and gives them rights to
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Freedom
from violence, abuse, hazardous employment, exploitation, abduction or sale.
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Freedom
from hunger and protection from diseases.
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Free
compulsory primary education.
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Adequate
health care.
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Equal
treatment regardless of gender, race or cultural background.
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The
right to express opinions and freedom of thought in matters affecting them.
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Safe
access to leisure, play, culture and art.
In
a world so huge, we may feel insignificant. But our contribution may make a
major difference. Sitting at home, each of us can serve to put an end to the
deplorable condition of a child worker. Volunteering to teach an illiterate
child in your city, or playing and interacting with child workers of your
locality, buying products that are made by grown ups, or enquiring more about
the child workers around you is a step by itself. You will be rewarded by the
happy chatter and innocent smile of a child worker set free.
