I always seem to do this during cloud cover, i.e.cozy up to the Internet.
After a few days off due to catching a bad cold I started volunteering at the HELP Foundations office. They have many projects and today I found myself assisting the team of Childline http://www.childlineindia.org.in/ Childline is a Indian national NGO and in 2011 HELP requested Childline collaborate with them in Kashmir. A child can call day or night if he or she is in trouble and needs urgent help. The calls get screened in Mumbai and then transferred back to Srinagar where the team here, in collaboration with the police, go out to find and assist the child. HELP does not have a safe house for children in need but it does connect or take the child to hospital, government or other NGO's facilities which can provide safely and other necessities for the child.The hotline get calls from children of all ages and in all different kinds of situations, it is heartbreaking to hear some of the cases.
There are many children in Kashmir enduring child labour, from domestic servants to making those nice, expensive Kashmiri carpets. Children are trafficked from poor states such as Bihar, Bangladesh and Uttar Pradesh but also Kashmiri children in the lower classes are working. Of course conditions are terrible, wages low, that is if they even get paid and often children endure beatings and sexuall abuse. This all happens because due to the overarching political situation/conflict and India's focus on 'security' in Kashmir, other issues which are viewed by the authorities as less important, such as the abuse of children and women slide under the radar, even flourish.
So since Childline is only a year old in Kashmir the team have to do a lot of raising awareness and leg work in the communities, so we went into one of the small villages next to Dal Lake close to Srinagar. We put up poster and talked with the villagers in attempts to raise awareness about child abuse and child labour. It is really interesting to talk with people because they honestly think that child labour is okay and even more okay if the child has come to work in Kashmir from a poor Indian state. As far as child sexual abuse, it happens but in such conservative and close communities it is hard to talk about far less find the victims. It was interesting that while in the villages three lads from Bihar around 9 or 10 years old were selling in a road side food stall. I chatted with them to find out where in Bihar they were from, Patna and Gaya were the answers. Such a weird situation to be in, i.e. raising awareness about child abuse/labour while right there under everyones nose is the problem we are talking about and non of the locals even notice. Proof once again that in the human mind bad things are only felt when it happens to me and mine.
After a few days off due to catching a bad cold I started volunteering at the HELP Foundations office. They have many projects and today I found myself assisting the team of Childline http://www.childlineindia.org.in/ Childline is a Indian national NGO and in 2011 HELP requested Childline collaborate with them in Kashmir. A child can call day or night if he or she is in trouble and needs urgent help. The calls get screened in Mumbai and then transferred back to Srinagar where the team here, in collaboration with the police, go out to find and assist the child. HELP does not have a safe house for children in need but it does connect or take the child to hospital, government or other NGO's facilities which can provide safely and other necessities for the child.The hotline get calls from children of all ages and in all different kinds of situations, it is heartbreaking to hear some of the cases.
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| the Childline team |
There are many children in Kashmir enduring child labour, from domestic servants to making those nice, expensive Kashmiri carpets. Children are trafficked from poor states such as Bihar, Bangladesh and Uttar Pradesh but also Kashmiri children in the lower classes are working. Of course conditions are terrible, wages low, that is if they even get paid and often children endure beatings and sexuall abuse. This all happens because due to the overarching political situation/conflict and India's focus on 'security' in Kashmir, other issues which are viewed by the authorities as less important, such as the abuse of children and women slide under the radar, even flourish.
So since Childline is only a year old in Kashmir the team have to do a lot of raising awareness and leg work in the communities, so we went into one of the small villages next to Dal Lake close to Srinagar. We put up poster and talked with the villagers in attempts to raise awareness about child abuse and child labour. It is really interesting to talk with people because they honestly think that child labour is okay and even more okay if the child has come to work in Kashmir from a poor Indian state. As far as child sexual abuse, it happens but in such conservative and close communities it is hard to talk about far less find the victims. It was interesting that while in the villages three lads from Bihar around 9 or 10 years old were selling in a road side food stall. I chatted with them to find out where in Bihar they were from, Patna and Gaya were the answers. Such a weird situation to be in, i.e. raising awareness about child abuse/labour while right there under everyones nose is the problem we are talking about and non of the locals even notice. Proof once again that in the human mind bad things are only felt when it happens to me and mine.
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