Helping Children Transition from Child Labor to the Classroom
By Christina Becherer, Director of Corporate Partnerships
I knew we had reached the “City of Glass” when I saw young men pushing carts piled high with columns of bangles. It was a beautiful sight — vibrantly colored glass embellished with glitter and small jewels — only darkened by my thoughts of the small hands of the children who likely helped produce these bangles. Firozabad, a town famous throughout India for its bangle industry, is rife with child labor. Here, swapping school for hazardous work at a tender age is not shameful or hidden but rather the norm — and often a tragic economic necessity for families.
After arriving in Firozabad, I followed my colleague from ChildFund India down an alleyway into a small, dark room with little ventilation. I learned about the typical day a child spends in rooms such as this, often waking as early as 3 a.m. to begin work. They sit crouched for hours over a burner, inhaling toxic fumes while their nimble fingers hold and fuse curved glass into bangles.
Soon after, I had an unforgettable meeting with the leaders of a youth group formed by ChildFund to advocate for child rights and promote alternative livelihoods. When I asked the group members which of them had been involved in bangle making as child, all but one raised a hand. Some added that they started working as early as age 7.
Seeming wise beyond their years, the youth members shared with me their struggles and dreams. One young man had started a catering business and now employs other youth. Another wants to join the Indian navy. One young woman is working as a seamstress, applying the skills she learned at a ChildFund Resource Center to fund her own education, and wants to become a government teacher.
I was surprised during our conversation when I noticed that one young woman, the club secretary and the only member not to raise her hand, had begun to cry. Durgesh removed her glasses to wipe away her tears. With gentle encouragement, she shared that she became emotional thinking of her mother. While she had not done the hazardous work herself, as a young girl she had watched her mother work in poor conditions day after day. Her mother had continuous pain in her legs because of how she had to sit crouched for hours making the bangles. She knew her mother kept working despite the pain to take care of her children and meet the family’s basic needs.
That is, until ChildFund helped the family transition to an alternative livelihood, selling clothes. Durgesh’s mother was finally able to stop making bangles. In fact, it was this intervention that allowed Durgesh to experience a childhood different from her peers — in school instead of at work. Her tears now drying on her cheeks, Durgesh told me with confidence that her dream is to become a politician. She wants to make positive change in the world. It moved me how many members of the youth club included a way of giving back and helping others through their own dreams.
ChildFund India’s results in Firozabad are undeniable: The children enrolled in our programs there are not laboring in the bangle industry — they’re learning in the classroom.
