A Field Worker’s Diary – Part 69:
“Contrary to my expectations, the organisers had made older people, who generally give speeches, sit in the seating area, and had made selected children from varied backgrounds sit on the stage. All the adults got ready to listen to their speeches.”
Part 70: Last year, some NGOs working for children’s rights had invited me to a Children’s Day program they were organising together. I went to the function with a bit of reluctantly since Children’s Day celebrations mostly mean nothing else but showcasing of children’s talent and speeches by adults. Contrary to my expectations, the organisers had made older people, who generally give speeches, sit in the seating area, and had made selected children from varied backgrounds sit on the stage. All the adults got ready to listen to their speeches.
The first to talk was Sangeeta from Tamil Nadu. That girl had fought with many elders in her village and stopped many child marriages along with her friends. Sangeeta spoke thus, “Not even a single girl should get married in her childhood. It would have a serious impact on the health and future of that girl. Please provide us with education before getting us married. We have the capacity to change the world. Why are you treating your own children as a burden?”
Asafulla, who came from Myanmar to Hyderabad as a refugee, spoke next. After coming to Hyderabad, he had worked for a long time as a child labour. In the end, with the help of a voluntary organisation he had been able to join school again. “Every child has the right to develop. Nobody has the right to violate that right. We might be refugees, we might be transgenders, we might be disabled, whatever we might be, aren’t we still children? Can’t you see us just as children? Can’t you create equal opportunities for all of us?” he questioned.
Susmita from Mahbubnagar had teared up when she was asked to speak. She couldn’t get one word out. She calmed down after some moments and said, “In the tribal community that I was born in, many people had killed their girl children immediately after birth. As I was the second daughter in my house, my parents had also considered killing me after my birth. They didn’t want me. My younger brother receives better clothes and better food than me or my elder sister. He goes to a better school than us. Why do you discriminate between your children based on gender? Aren’t we also your flesh and blood?”
Hyderabad-girl Ranjani stated, “Whenever I think of going to the houses of my friends, my parents say no. They tell me that it is not safe for girls to play outside. We know how to act and behave when we go outside. Just because some people don’t know how to behave with girls, why should we kill our freedom and our happiness? Don’t we have the right to happily play with our friends?”
Listening to the words of those four kids, the whole auditorium fell silent. Everyone became really emotional. I, however, kept hearing the question the 16 year old Swedish girl Greta Thungerg asked the world leaders last September — “How dare you?” Not just Greta, I felt as though each and every child in this world was stopping us in our tracks and asking us the same question.
Bharathi Kode