Early every morning, eight-year-old Anuja (name changed) pulls a cart into town hauling water for her neighbours. When it’s full, the tank weighs about 450 pounds. After doing morning chores, the hardest part of her day begins. Instead of going to school, she goes to work in a brick factory all day long. It’s hard and tedious work, often in temperatures above 35 degrees, each family getting paid by the number of bricks they load. As Anuja’s mother was getting older and weaker and the family needed financial resources, Anuja was required to carry the family burden as she has four younger siblings.
“I wish I could go to school, but I need to make money to buy food for my family,” said Anuja in a desperate tone. “I’m afraid that I won’t be able to work enough. We owe other people lots of money. I work from six in the morning until six in the evening. But still we don’t have enough food.”. Her father died of COVID, leaving the family with a mountain of debt. And that’s how they came to the brick factory a year ago and Anuja started working. “I don’t know what to do, I wanted my daughter to be educated, so she doesn’t have to work in the brick factory like me,” said Anuja’s mother with tears rolling down her cheeks. Anuja’s dream of becoming a teacher is an impossible dream, as she is in no position to go to school. It’s hard to believe that a girl like her has to bear such a heavy burden on her tiny shoulders.
A child at this age is supposed to be on the shoulders of their parents, but it is a tragedy that a child of this age has to carry the burdens of the family on his/her shoulders. Why is there so much misery in our society? Where should a child be? He or she should be in schools, not in workplaces. Children should be playing in playgrounds, not washing vessels. Children should be doing Maths, not working in a factory. Children should eat good food, not working in fields in the scorching sun. Child labour deprives the child of her/his childhood. Are these children paid well for their work? When will our society treat children as children?
Sr Lini Sheeja MSC
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