The Face of Indian Children

Lolin Menendez rscj

A circular from the Indian Province for rscjinternational.org prepared on the occasion of Children’s day 14th November 2006.

Children in Prison

A few months ago I began to visit the Prison in Pune, Maharashtra. I was shocked to find that in the women’s section there were sixteen children aged from less than one year to ten.

Their mothers are there for petty crimes, like neighbourhood fights, petty thefts, and so-called illegal entry into the country from Bangladesh. There is no one else to take care of the children so they are there together with their mothers. Most of them have been there from two to five years. There is no one to take up their cause so one does not know how long they will have to be there. 

The children are provided with the basic necessities, food, shelter, medical, and a kind of education in the prison imparted by a teacher who comes there. The question is, What crime have the children committed? Is the prison a place for them to spend their childhood? It is pathetic to see them peering at us through the bars of their prison cell. What will be the impact of life in prison for their future? Are there any alternative possibilities for women who have small children with no one else to care for them? Is this the best condition for the future of our children to grow as responsible citizens of our country?

Celina Pereira rscj

Children without parents

Geeta Devi (name changed) a poor tribal woman had lost her husband a few months back due to Malnutrition. Now, she has to care for her three children aged 3 year old, 7 year old and ten year old.

One day, she was working as a house-maid in a rich lady's house where she got a pittance. One day she asked the lady to give her some advance money as her children were starving. She was refused and while sweeping the floor she noticed a ten rupee note on the table. This tempted her to pick it up quietly and take home. When the rich lady noticed that her Rs.10 were missing, she made a big noise asking everybody therein who had taken her money. Geeta Devi said "I have taken it as my children are starving, You can cut from my pay." The rich woman made a big noise calling Geeta Devi “thief”. She called the police to take Geeta to jail. He did it because the police are paid for each person they pick up. Hence, he was happy to take her to prison!  She was not even allowed to go to tell somebody to look after her children.

The poor little ones had to do something to survive. So the eldest one went and got himself a hotel job, while he kept the two little ones at the station with the hope to meet their mother on her return. They did not know where she was. The mother was so distressed and when I visited the jail one morning, she came running and clung to me and wept and wept. It was my birthday. I could not even understand what she was telling me. However, when she stopped crying I got her message. So I decided to spend my birthday searching for these kids.

I went to Nala Sopara (name of the place) in the suburbs of North Mumbai and towards evening I managed to see two little children on the steps of the Railway station. I sensed that those might be her children and I approached them.They spoke Varli language and I discovered that the elder boy was employed in a hotel and every evening he would bring them some food. A panwalla (tobacco seller) seated nearby told me that those kids were waiting for their mother who had gone to work two or three weeks back and did not return! So I took the two kids and went to meet their brother, but could not find the hotel.

When we returned to the station, the ten year old had come with food for them. Together, we went back to the hotel with him. I requested the hotel manager to allow the boy to go to see his mother, but he refused to let him go. However, a friend who went with me said that he would try and bring them to the jail the following day. But they were not there the next day when I visited the jail.

As she had not been registered, and by God's grace we managed to convince the Jail authority to release the woman. I had to take her back to her children as she did not know the way. I have still to get the little boy out of that hotel and try and get the woman a better job.

Prabha Rodrigues rscj

Mishal – precious in God’s eyes

On the first day of school the scene of the little children at St. Clare’s was very interesting. Some were crying, others were not leaving their parents. Some felt that they were in a strange place, far away from home, seeing so many different children they had never seen before. A week later, many of them had stopped crying and had settled down in their classes. The scene had changed. Children were smiling at each other, talking to one another. They had become friends with each other. However, Mishal a pretty looking girl had not yet adjusted. She wanted one of her family members to sit with her in the class. Seeing this Sr. Rita granted this request of the parents. It seemed somehow very difficult to know the reason for her behaviour especially when she cried very bitterly in the class. Thinking that she was frightened of the teacher, she was put into another class. It was a challenge for me when she was put into my class. My co-teachers told me that I needed to talk to Sr. Rita about her. They told me that no school allowed such concessions that were made for Mishal. They even told me if I gave full attention to her, what would happen to the rest of the children in the class?

However, I was challenged by the parable of the lost sheep in the gospel where Jesus speaks of leaving the ninety-nine sheep in order to search for the one that was lost. Mishal was like a lost child but a very precious one in God’s eyes.

Gradually, Mishal began to settle down. I think that the love and understanding that she received both from her parents and me helped her to adjust and to feel more and more at home in the class. I also realized that for Mishal or any other child the need was to recognize that she is more important than rules and regulations of the school. I learnt to be compassionate and gentle with little children through this experience.

The parents too are relieved from their anxiety and are appreciative and grateful for all that is being done for Mishal.

Prisca Tierkey rscj

Encounter on the street

A few days back I was walking hurriedly along our busy street, trying to dodge the rickshaws making their way in between the road side food stalls that spring up in every nook and corner of our city.

Suddenly a little girl about five years old appeared before me with one outstretched hand and the other pointing at her stomach. She looked straight into my eyes, and I was deeply moved. So I ordered a pav bhaji plate for her from the nearest vendor. Immediately she brought another little boy and a third one appeared from nowhere. So I asked them to sit on the pavement while their meal was being prepared. When I asked them to wash their hands they lifted their cute little palms which according to their standards were totally clean. When the pav bhaji thali was placed before them I realised there was one pav less, so I requested another pav. The man took time to prepare it. All three of them sat in front of the plate and waited until the third pav arrived, and when it came they all approached the meal with a quiet inner dignity.

These are children who probably don’t even have enough to eat and are often hungry, but they showed no greed, instead there was an atmosphere of great respect for the food and for each other too.

I felt my heart move within me and realised that these so called street children taught me so much about life, about gratitude, about respect, about sharing and caring in the true sense of the word. I moved away from them knowing I had been deeply enriched and graced because of this encounter with a little five year old street child.

Shanti Fernandes rscj

Rights of the girl child to schooling

Enrolling as many children as possible at the two points of entry to our school, Stds V and VIII, has always been a priority for us at St. Theresa’s Girls High School, Haregaon. Our girls come largely from the marginalized sections of society and are often first generation learners. Some parents may not have been to school but most others too are so engaged in the struggles to earn a living that they pay little heed to their children’s education, especially if she is a girl. Hence we keep in touch with parents, keep calling then to meet the teachers and to give reports about their children. Class teachers and especially the Sisters have to take on the responsibility of parents, and follow up each child, visit homes and find out what the girl is lacking or why parents are not sending her to school.

Ours being a girls’ school we have place for every girl who comes to us, no matter what her background or previous academic performance is. She has a right to the education we offer and also to all the remedial help she may need, because of being deprived of facilities earlier on.  Once the girls join school, we struggle to maintain her regular attendance, so that she profits from all the help being given. And again, each year after the annual examinations we have to bargain with parents and the girls themselves, about continuing in school, even after a failure in a class – it will give the girl a better foundation which she has missed and ultimately she will do better and get good results in this class as well as the next and above all in the Std X examination, the passport to their future careers. A failure in this last may mean endless repeating of the exam with little success.

We are able to give the text books on loan through the school Book Bank system. Exercise books and uniforms are highly subsidized. Girls also have the opportunity to earn during the holidays in order to pay for their academic needs. The school administration takes a great deal of trouble to see that the annual scholarships and the daily midday meal sanctioned by government are given to them whole and entire. This helps the parents in their daily expenses for their children.

After all this what is the response we get? Each year a number of girls do not want to return to school and so drop out. They use their rights to decide for themselves, even when parents want then to attend school.  They are greedy for the little money they can earn in the nearby town or industrial area. It gives them the joy and freedom to buy things for themselves and to indulge in their little vanities, an attraction at this age, and above all to get rid of the burden of learning and of school. So the right to learning most often remains to be safeguarded by the teacher and the school administration and we credit much of the hard work of visiting and persuading the girls to continue their education to the teachers and office staff who do the contacting and visiting. Like the shepherd in the Gospel, there is much rejoicing over one girl who returns to school and we have the blessing of living this Gospel value!

Marie Noronha rscj
 

Lolin Menendez rscj

Children’s Day in Torpa

Children remind us of the preciousness of life. They are transparent; with no guile, enthusiastic, happy, frolic and joyful. We could see this when 8 villages, with their balwadi (pre-school) children came to spend the whole day, without even dreaming of what an enjoyable day it was going to be!

There were 130 little ones with their teachers. All were well-dressed, well-behaved, ready for the programme. It was most exciting to see them participating with great enthusiasm in the several games planned for them. They enjoyed themselves! Would they have thought they would receive gifts, and those who won the races, fabulous prizes!  Each child was made to feel loved and appreciated!

The Reach India Staff of CWD need to be applauded, for their untiring preparation to make this day a special day for the children of the far off villages! The poor calls us to inner freedom, selflessness and generosity. And each child reminds us “that of such is the kingdom of God.”

Anjali rscj