Begging to Go to School
Usha Revelli, Women's Feature Service
11 November 2004
Summarized by Amanda, 17, MD
Hyderbad, Nov 11 (WFS). Twelve-year-old Janardhan and 56 other boys between 5 and 15 years old are begging; begging for food and school. In July 2004, all of them were thrown out of a hostel for backward class boys in chintavaram village, Nellore district, Andra Pradesh, India. Backward classes, BC's, are communities notified by the central or state governments as socially and educationally backward.
After a strange government order the boys were thrown out. They did not go back home, but first took a shelter in a public building. Then with the help of an NGO, Kula Vivaksha Vyatireka Porata Committee (committee to fight against cast discrimination), they rented a building for Rs 600 (1 US $ = Rs 46) per month. They did not want to disrupt their studies at any cost.
For the first few days, local residents provided food for the children. However, since it was impossible for them to feed 57 kids everyday, the boys came up with their own formula. They decided to take turns begging in nearby villages and going to school. So, each week, one group attends school while the other begs. The ones who beg return home to cook for their mates. The very young ones are spared the ordeal of begging.
Because of their efforts, the boys have evoked admiration from different quarters. In July 2004, boarders of all the hostels in the district expressed their solidarity with the homeless kids by going on a day's fast. Later, all the students of the Gudur division boycotted one day of school and staged a demonstration outside the district collector's office. The regional press also supported their cause. Yet, these protests did not help the boys get back to their hostel.
The students – mostly children of agricultural workers and silica mine workers – recall that their hostel was running well for a long time. The villagers confirmed that most of the boys are bright and three of them topped in their school in the secondary school certificate examination.
Losing their hostel was due to the apparent misinterpretation of a GO. The government had issued an order asking district officials to set up a hostel for college girls from the backward classes. If necessary, the GO said, hostels that were under-utilized could be closed down and used for the girls' hostel. The district officials arbitrarily decided that as the boys' hostel was under-utilized, it could be converted into a girl's hostel. Most BC hostels are currently facing a severe resource crunch. The new government in Andhra Pradesh has reduced the budget for the BC welfare department.
Although Janardhan and his friends have no idea how long they will have to beg to go to school, they hope it will not be for too long.
http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/97701/1/
Two Different Worlds
Sherry, 15, recently moved from Texas to Connecticut
When I was in Mexico for a visit, what I saw was unbelievable. Teenage and even younger girls with babies were asking for money. They did not have enough money to feed their children or attend school. The worst part was that men were taking advantage of the young women and girls.
I have lived in several cities in the U.S., none of which were like what I saw in Mexico. The streets were filled with trash, unkept and uneven. The men
stood on street corners and shouted at the women who passed. America is a paradise compared to the towns I saw in Mexico.
My grandmother immigrated to Texas from Mexico. From her experience and what
I saw, it seems like women in Mexico are expected to be housewives who should stay at home and cook and clean for their husbands. I was not used to women being treated this way. My mother has always told me to follow my own path and not be a follower.
The lives of Mexicans do not necessarily improve when they cross the border to the U.S. There are many immigrants in my school in Texas, mostly from Mexico. Most of them are poor. In every part of society, including work places and malls, they are discriminated against.
I believe there is ignorance about poverty in this country. We tend to
worry about our own, sometimes petty, problems when there are people who do not have enough money to attend school, enough food to eat, or insurance to go to the doctor when they are sick. We need to start thinking about other people, particularly immigrants.
Being Hispanic myself, I feel that all people, including Mexican women and girls and immigrants in the U.S., should be seen as individuals who have hopes and dreams just like everyone does. We as Americans can help fight poverty by not focusing all of our attention on our own problems. Let us think about the less fortunate, both here and abroad, and how we can help them. Treating all people equally, volunteering, and donating money to charity are some way to help make the world a better place .
Accusations of New Irregularities Arise
Globo News chanell 10, Brazil
Contributed and translated by Gabriella H.G., grade 8, Brazil
6 November 2004
There are new denunciations and accusations of irregularities in the Bolsa Escola Família Program, a group of the government's main federal social projects.
Once again, the poorest citizens remain without help and the public money goes to people who should not have the benefit. The frauds repeat month after month, for instance in São João do Triunfo, inside Paraná.
Lady Maria lives in a rented house with her three sons and unemployed husband. The fear of lack of food for the family made her register in the government's federal programs. Two years had passed by, with no answer. “There are a lot of people who don't need the money, but are enrolled. People who really need do not receive anything”, complains lady Maria.
Far from the poor district lives the housewife Cláudia de Lara. She lives her own house with her husband who is a manager of a gas station. His salary is around US$50,000. Even so, she receives every two months US$5 to buy the gas to cook. “It is for free! Who doesn't want it?”, questions Cláudia.
More than a thousand people receive money from the programs of the federal government in São João do Triunfo. Among the beneficiaries are dealers, government officials, and even mayor's relatives.
Janete Galvão owns a snack bar. She has an income of US$150. a month and admits: “The money is coming and I keep taking it.” In the rural area, the money arrives for several farmers. Even the sister-in-law of the mayor is receiving the payment. Eva Gelinski gets US$20. of the Bolsa Família. She owns the land where she plants tobacco.
The government official who was responsible for listing the beneficiaries in the city is also on the list. He shows the card. “At that time I wasn't working. I lived with my brother and my brother-in-law.” His colleague said that are no cancellations. “It is not politically viable to exclude a person, does not give vote.”
Mayor Ulisses Bacil of São João do Triunfo shows surprise at the news that his relatives are beneficiaries. “They said that my sister-in-law is receiving. I think there are other people of the same financial situation that shouldn't be receiving, and probably are. I think people should return the card if they don't need it.”
Meanwhile, lady Ana regrets that the money does not arrive to people who really need it. A widow, she raises three grandchildren. “If I didn't have the stove made of firewood, it would be difficult to cook. I am without gas even with the money of my pension to buy the gas.”
Mayor Bacil said that a new registration will be done to prevent the payments from continuing to be done irregularly. He advanced, however, that the employee responsible for the disaster is going to continue in the position, even having admitted in the report that he receives the money without having the right to benefit.
http://jornalhoje.globo.com/JHoje/0,19125,VJS0-3076-20041106-66392,00.html
New drive against child soldiers
17 November, 2004
Child soldiers have been used in 22 conflicts in the last three years
Recruiters of child soldiers should face prosecution by the international criminal court, a human rights group has said.
The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (CSUCS) has called on the UN to name, shame and pursue armies and militias which use children to fight.
Fighters under the age of 18 have been used in 22 conflicts in the last three years, it reveals in a new report.
It says the US and UK were among countries recruiting underage soldiers.
There are no US soldiers under 18 in Iraq or Afghanistan now, but in the earlier stages of both wars a total of 62 children aged 17 were sent in by the American forces, according to the report.
The CSUCS says that while numbers are small this practice sends all the wrong messages.
Prosecutions
In its detailed study covering five continents, it warns that new wars such as the one in Ivory Coast are sucking in new underage fighters. The CSUCS notes that, while there has been a slight reduction in the overall number of child soldiers since its last report three years ago, recruitment is continuing.
The coalition is made up of human rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights watch and charities such as Save the Children and World Vision.
Rachel Brett, of the Quaker United Nations Office in Geneva, a member of the coalition, told BBC News that child soldier recruiters were already facing prosecution in conflicts including Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone.
"The first successful prosecution for using children in this way will have a huge impact," she said. "If these recruiters know they will be caught, it will force them to change their behaviour."
'No under-18s'
Ms Brett said governments and rebel groups were "remarkably sensitive" about how accusations of using child soldiers could harm their credibility.
"If governments are being named by the UN Security Council, then I think they will take that seriously," she added.
A small number of countries, including the UK, recruit children from 16 into the forces, promising not to send them to battle until they reach 18.
The CSUCS wants that stopped too so that there are no under-18s in any army and what happened with American forces in Afghanistan and Iraq cannot be repeated.
But most child soldiers are members of rebel groups, or government-backed militias, rather than standing armies.
Many are forced to take up arms, others volunteer to fight to take revenge, or to make a living.
BBC defence and security correspondent Paul Welsh says that is where the real battle lies to spare children the horrors of war.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4019087.stm
Pakistani children suffer as camel jockeys
United Press International
Islamabad, Pakistan, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- Many Pakistani children are living in poor conditions in Middle Eastern countries, forced to work as jockeys in camel races, a Pakistani official says.
Tariq Azim, minister of state for overseas Pakistanis, told the Daily Times that some 2,000 children, not only from Pakistan but also from India , Bangladesh and Mauritania, had been taken to the United Arab Emirates to work for camel race clubs.
Azim accused local gangs and foreigners of telling families that their children would earn $84 a month in the Emirates as domestic workers.
"Usually the children travel on the mother's passport. After she arrives in the foreign country, the mother returns to Pakistan. The Pakistan mission allows her to detach the child from her passport," Azim said. "The family just dumps its children with the camel club."
The minister said the children are fed poorly -- sometimes worse than the camels -- in order to keep their weight down. Many of these children have died or suffered deteriorating health, he said.
Some officials attached to Pakistan's foreign missions may be involved in the crime, Azim said. He said the government would launch a campaign to warn parents about the criminal scheme.
http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20041115-020629-9839r.htm
|
