How our society transforms Innocent Children into Criminals.
This is not a scene from the Oscar-winning blockbuster film Slumdog Millionaire, this is the sad reality of what happens daily on the streets of India. When you travel around India, you commonly come across the destitute and needy who beg passers-by for food and money the majority of these are children, orphaned children who have no parents or guardians, who have no shelter and a force to spend their nights under the stars.
Currently, there are over 65 million orphans in Asia alone and 20 million of them are in India. These children are all alone, vulnerable and scared. Often these children are abducted by organized criminals and their bodies mutilated and handicapped before they are forced out to beg. They know that amongst a multitude of poor, the handicapped may look more wretched and passers-by would show more sympathy. Unfortunately, the criminal is the real recipients of the money.
A major problem faced by these unfortunate orphans is a forced labour. This uncertain existence makes them easy prey for those wishing to exploit them and entrap them into forced labour. These children, many barely out of infancy are made to work extensively selling goods, manufacturing or providing services. They work 14 or 16 hours a day, seven days a week with minimal breaks and no holidays.
Due to the absence of shelter and family, these poor children are exploited ruthlessly by their masters. The fear of being deprived of whatever little, they are getting means they do not voice their agony and resign themselves to accepting their ordeal as destiny. As day turns to night, the fight for survival is transformed on to another level, fraught with even more danger. Like any other child, they too deserve a proper bed to rest their weak and tired bodies but these children have to settle down on the footpaths and roads, exposed to the blistering heat of summer and the bitter coldness of winter.
They wish that their Grandma tell stories to them. These orphan kids have desired that someone take care of them when they got injured. They hope that when they cry, their tears stop on someone’s palm. They also want to grab a figure. They wish that somebody will agree on their every obstinance. They dream that someone dresses up them, comb their hair with love. These orphans wish that someone teach them how to do new pranks, call them by their nickname.
They also have a dream, they also see a dream.
But they have nobody to do these things, no grandma, no parents.
We all have these privileges in our lives but we don’t value it. These orphan kids not only do they face hunger, lack of shelter, mistreatment and a threat of violence on a daily basis but they also have to contend with the horrors of sexual abuse and exploitation. Girls especially make vulnerable targets for the flesh traders who take advantage of their homelessness to force them to succumb to their evil pressures. Often, they end –up in the sex trade where rape and sexual abuse is a daily hazard and sexually transmitted diseases are almost impossible to avoid.
Food, Clothing, and Shelter should be a basic right for all the children of the world. Unfortunately, these children are deprived of even these essential necessities. The lack of shelter means they are forced to inhabit places which are dreadfully on hygienic and home to various diseases. Imagine the pitiable condition of a child faced with serious illness and disease on top of the daily struggle against the ravages of poverty, lack of shelter, exploitation, and abuse.
These kids face a hard situation in life and because of that, they become mature before time, before every normal kid.
As the time passes, these kids turn into a criminal, and the crime rate of our country increases. If we really want to control the crime rate of India, we have to take out a permanent solution to this problem.
Imagine the difference that we can make to the lives of these little ones. The emergence of joy on their little faces and the prayers that will grand you for proving them with the means of shelter, food and clothing and education. Imagine these children being free to enjoy life, free to play like any other child free to enjoy and celebrate their childhood.
We can establish schools in order to help the world’s most vulnerable and needy people. These schools will provide free shelter, food, clothes, and education so that they will excel in their life. These schools primary focus is on orphans, often the weakest members of any society and the most affected by the scourge of poverty. These educational institutes will be playing a leading role in the battle against poverty, starvation, illiteracy, and exploitation.
We can open a series of educational institutions all over India. These educational institutes will house orphans who have, no parents or no carers and have found themselves all alone living in the slums. We hope the upbringing, care, love, and education they receive will turn their lives around and take them out of the cycle of poverty which will otherwise blank their futures.
The educational institutes will be unique in the country and will provide an unparallel level of care which will be without equal in this part of the world. These schools will be situated such that there will be ease of access to further educational institutions. We wish to educate all the children in care to the highest possible standards and allow them to reach their full potential. We can create a YouTube channel and websites where we can publish activities done by these innocent children to raise money. This money can be utilized for the upliftment of these poor children. People can donate to this worthy cause and bring hope to the innocent children.