India_Shining_from_the_Ground

INDIA SHINING-FROM THE GROUND….. Education of the Dalit has received lot of attention in India. However the form and content of education has continued to be more or less same. They are among the most socially & educationally disadvantaged group in India. Our observation revels that only education can change the present status of a Dalit in India. The BOH Saharanpur, is on its mission to bring about such changes in the life of the Dalit children & make them Responsible citizens of India. Responsibility is duty towards someone or something. Responsibility means taking care. This story is about two young girls who fulfils their responsibilities cheerfully. When asked what they want most for their children, parents generally say that they first want them to be good human beings. If we want children to possess the values we admire, we need to teach them those values. In the life of Neelam & Poonam their circumstances and Bridge of Hope played a great role in the transformation of their life. Their story reveals the emphasizes of value, such as truth, courage, determination, responsibility, peace and freedom. In a world filled with materialism and violence, children will be encouraged to hold their own morally and like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. they will be able to win many a moral victory. Recalling the days when both of this girls got admitted into the project in year 2005, they looked shabby and unhygienic as if coming out directly from coal field. The younger one Neelam had a running nose and was constantly wiping it in her hand, dress. Their old ragged clothes & unwashed face revealed their living condition before us. This two children’s were stinking with a body odor a mixture of smoke and mustard oil. Both the sister were dressed in a boys outfit, so was their hair cut. It took us time to change their habits and make them hygienic in their bearing. Since these two girls were from a poor Dalit background, they had to face lots of problems in terms of social acceptance in school and community. This had a adverse effect on their behavior, when they first joined BOH, they used to sit separately in a corner and kept silent throughout the class. Even most of their classmate’s passed remark on their outfits. As per Neelam they were also not allowed to enter houses of other people because of their caste. Since their childhood they had witnessed poverty, rejection and discrimination of sex etc. In other words they grew in the laps of cruelty and hardship of life. Their eye had seen more tear’s than the Govt. water tape -flowing water near their house. Now their eyes are dried and hardly wets. Many instances of rejection and mental harassment made this tender mind’s seasoned. Many times when they witness girls of their age playing with doll and wearing new clothes, they also felt the absence of soft toys and child’s play in their life. Birthday celebration of their schoolmates who put on new clothes made them felt the absence of celebration in their house. As per Neelam quote “ I feel if it could be me.” Their parents worked day and night to earned a onetime food for their family for 7 children ( 3 boys and 4 girls child). All of them used to live in a small single hut of 6x8 ft. As they didn’t have Toilet facilities they used to go near railway line for latrine. This young girls felt shame while using the open toilets and bath they had to undergo many invading eyes to hide their shame. All this circumstance of reality of life had an effect on Neelam’s life, she no longer wanted to be victim of circumstance rather to confront and fight back. One thing which was very clear in her mind was that before God everyone is equal & only through education they could change their living standard. She started dreaming, a dream to give her parents a position in the society, a dream to change her present living standard, following her dream’s with hard work and setting her goals. She along with her sister’s started working to begin their work they pulled trolley rickshaw. Which was fortunately one of her mother’s precious possession. They used to visit houses collect garbage from them. As Neelam was good at puling trolley, she used to pull the rickshaw and Poonam used to collect garbage. Many time they felt a shame or hide their face from their school friend passing by. These girls had in their mind to construct a house for their parents who were living in a single room hut a proper latrine for their sister. They did everything possible to earn. They followed their dream and they also work as assistance in marriages & parties. During their holidays they worked long hours as labour in the houses/fields. There is a saying that fortune favours the brave. It definitely favoured Neelam & her sister. Her sense of responsibility won her a fortune greater than she had ever dreamed of before. It took them 4 years with their hard earned money they could present their parents with a 3 room tin shade house with latrine facility & with mud baked brick wall around. They did all to make their family happy. One of the initiative they took in helping the people particularly women in their locality was by spreading literacy. To begin with they taught their mother how to read and write. Now they have literate around 5 women who can read and write. Their mother who was before a “Angutha chap” or illiterate can sign her name now. Neelam was instrumental in helping her father quit alcohol. She told her father of the bad effect of liquor on the lever and fought with people not to offer liquior to him. Her bold step’s stopped her father from consuming alcohol. Most girl’s in their locality are engaged in flesh trade but this girls in spite of poverty choose to earn money through hard labour. The BOH Centre is a blessing in their life it is here only they celebrated their B’day for the first time. Since their parents couldn’t celebrated their birthday in their childhood, so they used to celebrate their nephews and invite all their friends. They are so humble and obedient that they used to hand over their monthly income to their mother. This girls used to collect garbage in the morning before going to the school, from 35 houses in their locality, for which they used to get upto rupees 50 per house. Like other children they too take pocket money, but only Rs10 a month to eat chowmein, which they shared with other members of their family. Both the sister live a life of a Tomboy, they love to put on boys outfit, Salwar kameez for them is a dress they wear out of compulsion. Neelam and Poonam wanted to became a Teacher in future because they wanted to be GODs love in action to the poorest of the poor. Their life reflects love, humbleness, commitment and achievement .Being a social organization we condemn Child labour, but the high level of Child achievement in the said story, is of rare kind… . Submitted by Souransu Rout,