9 January: After a terrific journey via the new Metro – beautiful, clean, quiet, for real!—and an autorickshaw ride, we arrived at Mukti Ashram. This is one of three (or more) projects run by Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), an organization dedicated to rescuing children from bonded labour, or slavery. Their motto is “Education for Liberation, Liberation for Education”, and they have 2 pieces of property just outside of Delhi, and one just outside of Jaipur. We visited Mukti Ashram, a kind of boarding school for boys, and just across the way, Balika Ashram, a similar place for girls. Bala Ashram is near Jaipur in Rajasthan. For more information about their organization, go to www.bba.org.in/ourashrams/muktiashram.php3.

The director, Ms. Suman, spoke with us for about an hour, which was very generous of her, given the frenetic pace of her schedule. She explained the history and mission, and we (Maureen and I) asked questions, listened, and occasionally tried to see if what they were doing was similar to something we knew.

It seems like one of the main differences between Ms. Suman's ideology and that of many other NGOs is the focus is on urging the government to take on the role that she and others are playing. For her it is not okay for NGOs to assume the responsibility for caring for people; the government must use the role models that the NGOs are developing. She also is invested in the idea that NGOs MUST focus on self-sustaining projects. It is of little use to make people dependent on NGOs; they must be encouraged to take responsibility for themselves. Here there is the concept of karma to battle, because many feel it is simply their destiny to be poor, and that perhaps next lifetime will be better.

Another main effort has been on consumer awareness. Interestingly, 60-65% of Indian carpets are sold in Germany. They therefore partnered with a German organization to inform Germans that these carpets are made with child labour. Children are made to work long hours, under terrible conditions; they are often beaten, poorly fed and housed, and have no rights. It seems that rescuing children from these factories accomplishes something—with each raid perhaps 100 or so children are no longer in bonded labour. But waiting in the wings to take their places are 300 more children. Putting an international spotlight on their plight seems to be somewhat more influential. There is still a long way to go, but Ms. Suman is fuelled by the urgent need to combat ignorance, poverty, and complacency.

Education is at the forefront of BBA's efforts. Ms. Suman described to us how the children are taught to actually think for themselves about their situation. They are encouraged to think, step by step, about how they got where they are, what the system is that puts them in that situation, what their responsibility is, and what their choices are now that they have, at least to some extent, been liberated. They are given literacy classes, as many of them have never been to school and can neither read nor write. Also part of their education is training in a trade; for the six months that they are in this rehabilitation process they choose one area to work on and become adept at doing something that will provide an income.

We asked what kind of help BBA would like from us—would they want volunteers to come and work there? Fundraising help? Awareness campaigns? Ms. Suman said that funding is always needed. But communicating with people in the west, letting them know what is happening here and how we can help to eradicate child bonded labour is equally important. We can, for example, adopt a village whereby a team can help to educate, provide information about their rights, promote local industry, give minimum wages for adults so that children are not obliged to work to support their families. The ways to accomplish this are only as finite as our creative potential.

After meeting with Ms. Suman we were shown around Balika Ashram, where we saw about 25 tribal girls from Orissa who were having a literacy class. Lakshmi and Avinash guided us through their tailoring area and printing workshop. We saw their dormitories and common room.

We then chatted with Avinash and a young man who is training some of the boys who have gone through the Mukri Ashram rehabilitation. These boys are then returning to their villages and helping others to attend school rather than work in factories. It is a very grassroots effort, and appears to be more effective than other programs because it employs people from the same village.

It was extremely moving, and certainly gives a sense of direction regarding how westerners can be helpful from afar.

Until next time, with love –

Ellen