Rural Workers’ Development Society - Re-enrollment of Child Labor
"CRY America acknowledges with gratitude the Guru Krupa Foundation, whose generous gift of $20,000 ensures that the noble work of RWDS may continue."
ThirumaMadasamy 13 years old hailing from Manikanagar village in Kadaladi block in Ramanathapuram village. His father is working in palmyrah related work and mother in Salt pan. Manickanagar village is located interior from the main access road and there are no bus facility for the village and hence children / community members will have to walk around 3 Kms from their village to main road for any transport facility. Children from this village will have to spend almost Rs. 40 every day in order to go to middle school which is 8 Kms away from this village and extends to Rs. 60 every day to travel 12 Kms for High and Higher secondary school. Most of the families in this village are engaged in either Fishing or Palmyrah related works and apparently the families face the hard stroke on their daily living / food.
In this situation ThirumaMadasamy dropped out of school this year after completing 8th standard last academic year due to long distance to school and lack of transport facility and stated working in a fishing work – Net knitting and cleaning. Due to which he goes to school late and the school teachers in BharathaMatha school admonish him with harsh words which he couldn’t bear. Post dropping out he had to take on the family responsibility as well and started working to carry out the duty as the first child in his family for his one younger brother who is studying 8th std. in BharathaMatha school and two younger sisters who are studying 4th std in primary school in the same village.
During the regular house visit by the community organizers and the community volunteer got to know about his situation that he has not enrolled for 9th std and working currently during when he also got used to alcohol. The team counselled and motivated his parents about the importance of education. Meanwhile, the team also met Thirumamadasamy in person and discussed with him repeatedly to motivate him to get back to school. With the persistent effort for three months, they could convince and too situation and his reenrollment. They also tried to constantly monitor him and guide/counsel to come out of drinking habit.
The team then spoke to education dept. about the teachers’ behavior and iterated to inform teachers to understand the situation of children and to be concerning. The HM and teachers were initially denying and refused to enroll him back in the school. The team along with Thirumamadasamy’s parents spoke to the teachers and committed to monitor on his son and ensure he is regular to school. Now his is enrolled in 9th std in the school and the community members are closely monitoring on him.
Creating Change, Inspiring Changemakers: Sanlaap’s Work in Kolkata’s Red Light District
Sixteen-year-old Zaheer (name changed) scarcely knew anything that resembled a normal childhood. Born in one of Kolkata’s several red light districts, circumstances had set Zaheer on a self-destructive path. He hadn’t seen an alternative. And anyway, there wasn’t much in the way of hope for him and many like him in this slum that teemed with the violence and desperation that only the most extreme poverty can foster.
This was a far cry from the Zaheer who I met in October of 2022, when I visited CRY America-supported project Sanlaap. I was immediately struck by Zaheer’s confidence and determination to work toward a better life for himself and his peers. The educational support and personalized attention provided by Sanlaap - and made possible by our donors - has been nothing short of life-changing for Zaheer and others like him.
The second of 6 siblings, Zaheer dropped out of school at a young age to work with his brother at a tea processing factory near his house. It was a move driven by tragic necessity: Zaheer’s father became blind and was no longer able to provide for the family. His mother formerly worked in the sex trade, until she too fell chronically ill and left that occupation. She continued to earn a small amount of money, producing paper pouches at home.
Before he was forced into work, Zaheer had been a highly eager learner and a football enthusiast who dreamed of playing professionally. Before long, Zaheer’s job and living situation began to take a heavy toll on his mental and emotional health. As did many of his peers, Zaheer turned to drugs and alcohol to cope.
One of Sanlaap’s field workers in the slum became aware of Zaheer’s challenges, and invited him to the organization’s resource center. In the course of the discussion with staff, Zaheer expressed a desire to continue his studies at the center in the evenings. However, he declined to enroll in school, as he had since become the sole earner in his family.
After finishing his studies, Zaheer works for three hours before returning to his house around midnight. And remarkably, his days of alcohol and drug abuse are behind him, thanks to ongoing counseling and motivation from Sanlaap staff.
Now clear-headed and confident, Zaheer took on a youth leader role and began speaking out against child labor and abuse. As his health improved, he jumped at the opportunity to join a regular early-morning football practice provided by Sanlaap.
One thing that was obvious to me about Zaheer was his deep compassion for family and community. Though his family circumstances have yet prevented him from leaving work altogether, he has selflessly used his earnings to enroll his sisters at a quality government school. I left our visit that day certain that the investments that CRY America supporters have entrusted to partners like Sanlaap will continue to pay off for kids like Zaheer in ways we can’t even imagine!
Support Projects like Salaap by donating on: https://www.cryamerica.org/donation/
