|
Delhi's streetchildren have set up an alternative forum for themselves. They meet, discuss problems, and even publish their own newspaper
There are 400,000 streetchildren in Delhi. The capital's streets and roads are their workplace. For 100,000 of these children, the streets double as home. They have nowhere else to go. Streetchildren work as rag-pickers, in tea-stalls and dhabhas (roadside eateries), as shoeshine boys or vendors. But street life can be unpleasant and risky. They face physical abuse, the callousness of policemen, are vulnerable to drugs and to health insecurities.
In a small, significant way, there is a new dimension to the city's street life under the auspices of Butterflies, an NGO working in Delhi. The children will assemble at street corners, in parks or at bus stations, to discuss, debate, learn and even bring out their own newspaper! It could be the ISBT bus terminus, the railway station, INA Market, Connaught Place or Chandni Chowk
\\\"We made a conscious decision not to create centres for streetchildren. Instead, everything takes place wherever the children live and work,\\\" says Butterflies director Rita Panicker.
The various Butterflies programmes cater strictly to children below 16. It's a restriction set up by the children. The soul of the unusual programming is the Bal Sabha (the children's council). Each Sabha meets every other week. Average attendance is between 30 and 50. Participants discuss issues affecting them. They have set up a Bal Mazdoor Union and use it as another forum to fight for their rights, though the Registrar of Trade Unions has turned down their application to be recognised as a union.
A new platform of expression has been created in the bi-monthly Hindi newspaper Bal Mazdoor Ki Awaz (The Voice of Child Labour). "The paper responds to a serious vacuum in the mainstream media, which the children felt were not sensitive to their problems," says Ishani Sen, a Butterflies education co-ordinator.
The first lead of the paper's inaugural issue in August 1996 was an investigative account of child prostitution in the Jama Masjid area. "Food is the primary concern for street children and one way to have a full tummy is to rely on a homosexual man," said a streetkid called Sanjay in the article. "Sometimes to get new boys they even pay up to Rs 70."
A thousand copies are printed and pasted at different locations in the city. For the Street Educators, the paper provides good interactive material for the literacy classes.
Most children who come to Butterflies come as 'customers'. The NGO offers no free handouts. The children pay part of the costs - for stationery used in class, for the expenses of the monthly picnic outings. By making the children customers of the programmes offered, their criticisms and suggestions yield greater weight with the staff than otherwise.
Contact:Butterflies
U-4,
1st Floor
Green
Park Extn
New
Delhi 110 016, India
Tel:
91-11-616 3935/619 1063
Fax:
91-11-619 6117
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
|
