Speech by Saima Kassam (23rd September 2006)

Ya Ali Madad to you all. Could you all close your eyes for a moment and just imagine a girl, 10 years of age, huddled in the corner of a dark room along with 5 others with nothing but a blanket to call her own? You can open your eyes. What did it feel like?? This is a life of a child labourer. Child labour is a familiar topic yet you might be wondering what it means. Child labour is simply the employment of children as wage earners. Children of any age can be victims of child labour and it is a huge problem in Third World Countries especially India. The term child labour can be explained in 2 phrases: The first as an “an economic practice”- this signifies employment of children in gainful occupation with a view to adding to the family income. Where poverty is high, children are often sent out to work, as a pair of extra hands to supplement the family income. Many of these children have never been to school and are often illiterate. Many people and industries regard children as invaluable because of their sharp eyes and nimble fingers. India has the largest number of child labourers in the world. According to a recent UNICEF report, every third house in India has a working child and every fourth Indian under the age if 15 is employed. There was an argument in a carpet factory in India because it employs more than 300,000 children. Because of the growing poverty problems and rapid pace of urbanization, child labour will continue to grow. The second way child labour can be defined is as a social evil. This is a broader aspect and takes into account the dangers children are exposed to and the resultant denial of opportunities for development. Some children find employment as domestic helpers in factories, mills, small tea and snack shops and even in construction. They are persuaded into the jobs by false promises of high pay. Sometimes their parents send them to work to pay off family debts and also in most cases parents are ignorant, that is, they don’t care about their family and their children and drown themselves in alcohol and drugs and hence the children have to help in order to survive. “VILLAGE BY THE SEA”, a book by Anita Desai, portrays a family that lives in poverty. A girl named Leela (15) helps her family to survive. Her mother is very sick, she has anemia and she can hardly walk she is always in bed, her father who can’t face these problems drowns himself in alcohol. Her brother runs away to another city because he cannot take it any longer. She works really hard, pays the school fees of her two younger siblings and she pays off the family debts. In the end she gets help from a rich family in whose house she works in. Her mother is taken to the hospital and because of this her father realizes his responsibilities as a father. In the end they all fight their troubles together. In her case, she was helped but in other cases children are not helped. How many children do you know who have been helped and survived? These children work in terrible conditions with low wages and poor food and shelter. Most of these children have to work in very bad conditions. They often work in ill-ventilated rooms. They face many health problems for instance labourers working in brick kilns and carpet industries develop lung diseases. Other dangerous diseases are anemia, night blindness and myopia and these accidents occur in jobs which employ little or no safety procedures. After 14 to 16 hours of daily mental and physical pressure, child labourers can’t help but have slow development and they often grow up to become criminals. These children do not get proper education especially girls who are kept away from school and education, and are encouraged to work. Many children are physically abused; they are beaten when they do not work. So you see what these children are facing? The Government of India raised funds and sent children to school. But this has been done by the Government, what are the youths that is us supposed to do? Do not buy products that you know have been made by child labourers as this will discourage people who employ child labourers. By raising funds and provide them with better food, shelter, clothing and education. Think about it. We should count ourselves very lucky. It is a pity to know that child labour doesn’t only happen in India, but in our own country too! What do you know about TANZANIA and how much could you help as a youth? So I have opened the door of INDIA, why don’t you open the door of our own country TANZANIA? Thank you so much! Please note that views presented by this speech are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect those of the Speaker's Corner.