12to12 to End Child Labour - The Community Portal

I am a student of Christ University pursuing Bachelors in Business Management. I’ve always had a soft corner for children. This is the best opportunity I could get to contribute to their development.
 

It was the first day for me as a part of SCEAD Foundation team and was asked to click several pictures of children working in the market areas and slums in Bangalore. We went to different places around Wilson Garden, Someshwaranagar, etc.  We went to the slum area because it was difficult to find working children in the city.

We saw so many children, some sitting with their parents in the verandah, some playing games in groups. It was quite touching that as soon as we arrived all of them gathered us and greeted us in their own special way (we couldn’t understand their language but could feel that they were happy to see us).  We took out our cameras to capture those beautiful moments. We played with them. More and more children came out being fascinated by the cameras and everyone was excited.

We went inside and to our surprise we saw three to four children playing in the garbage. It was a big area between two buildings which were under construction. When we went closer we saw that they were actually segregating the waste and not playing. That was quite shocking. I tried to ask them why they are doing it and was quite inquisitive to know about them more. But maybe it was our bad luck that we couldn’t have conversation because of inconvenience in understanding each other’s language.

We then left to search for more children as the parents started revolting because we were strangers and were trying to talk to their children and capturing their pictures. Most of the time when I travel I’m lost daydreaming about something or the other. But today it was quite different. I was conscious and aware about everyone whom I saw outside my window. Sadly, I was two children carrying big buckets of water in their heads. I went to them and asked them where they were taking it. They said they earn money for the work they do. They were small children of 10years each. They were paid Rs 500 per month for that work. I asked them about their family. They said that they live in a slum nearby. One of them said that his dad drives auto and his mom is dead. The other one said that his mother is a servant and his dad doesn’t do any work. I felt really sad listening to them. I couldn’t talk much and moved on.

These little incidents struck my heart and I feel disappointed thinking about their condition. I feel really lucky to have everything I ever wanted. My parents gave me whatever I asked for. I got the opportunity to experience luxuries in life, from AC rooms, TVs, Computers to the latest Cell phones. Wore clothes of the best brands and ate all the delicious dishes in 5 star hotels. I wonder how my life would be without all these. It’s actually very difficult to survive in such conditions where it’s difficult to even get a meal for a day (forget about luxuries).

I’ve always heard about the condition of poor people but never came across them so closely. I would like to thank SCEAD Foundation for helping me understand it and I would definitely love to work for these young children. Children, in spite of going to schools are doing these petty odd jobs just to earn their daily bread. I would appreciate the work being done by this organization to improve these children’s lifestyles and help to educate them and lead a healthy life ahead.

Bhavya Malhotra

BBM  (1^st year)

Christ University , Bangalore

Total picture captured   around 500 , by 40 Volunteers