Plan India Picking up the Pieces

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Plan India Picking up the Pieces

• India is home to one of the largest child
  labourer population in the world. According to
  the Census of India 2011, more than 8 million
  children go to work rather than to school. New
  Delhi alone has more than 15,000 rag-pickers.
• Apart from living in inhospitable conditions,
  these children, along with their parents, work
  seven days a week, picking through garbage that
  is toxic in nature, a serious health hazard they
  are more than aware off. But they have to because
  their lives depend on it.
• Among such children was Sanam (name changed). She
  has been a rag-picker since the age of 8.
• After my parents migrated to Delhi from
  Rajasthan, we thought our lives would change for
  the better. Struggling to overcome our financial
  situation, there was no other option but for me
  to join my parents and younger siblings in
  working at the go down.

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• It was hard for me especially because I thought
  that after moving to Delhi, I would get the
  chance to go to school and college. Then I could
  get a job and provide a better life for my
  family. I struggled in the beginning to come to
  terms with this fact. But I never lost hope.
• More than a year had passed and Sanam was still
  picking pieces of plastic from mounds of garbage.
  It was a meeting with a Plan India staff member
  from the Anti-Child Labour Project that would
  bring much needed change in her life. Staff
  members spent time talking and counselling the
  parents to send Sanam to school. The effort
  eventually paid off.
• Sanam, along with her siblings, soon enrolled
  into the project and joined the Knowledge
  Enhancement Centre. Along with the other
  children, she was given non-formal education. Not
  long after, one of her dreams was fulfilled when
  she was enrolled into a government school.

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• She is so active in class. The changes weve
  seen in her over the years are truly remarkable.
  Initially, she was shy and hardly spoke to
  others, often keeping to herself. Now, shes the
  first to raise her hand to answer or ask a
  question. Vishal, Project Coordinator
• Today, not only Sanam, but her parents have also
  given up rag-picking. They now live in a
  resettlement colony in New Delhi where they can
  see their children grow up in a safe environment.
• Sanam was always eager to go to school and would
  often cry when, instead, she had to go to work.
  As a mother, it was hard for me to see her like
  this. Thankfully, now my children can look
  forward to a bright future. And as for Sanam,
  this is the happiest shes ever been and thats
  more than enough for me. Nadeema, Sanams mother.

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