A Dominican in India – Ending Child Labor
During my semester abroad with the BRIC: Cornerstone of the Global Economy Program, our group visit to Bal Ashram in Jaipur, India was one of my highlights. Bal Ashram established in 1998, is the rehabilitation and training center of Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save the Childhood Movement) catering for the special needs of victims of child labor.
To see the humanity of young people, who smile like the world is theirs, despite their history as former victims of child labor, was a true demonstration of love. Children once stripped of their childhood’s now embrace life to the fullest while living in Bal Ashram, a place that builds their agency to be the change makers of the future and end child labor once and for all. Trauma can be unavoidable when you don’t know who your parents are, your given name, your birthdate, or when your life at one moment only knew pain, but Bal Ashram is the beginning of a new life. A life that gives children the safety and education that ensures their humanity is shared with the world, their great energy, and potential as people unleashed.
In a weekend filled with amazing moments, it can provide difficult to choose one as the one that stands most important. Though if I had to choose, The most important moment for me that weekend was feeling the positive energy of our soccer games. I’ve played sports for many years as a child, and many different sports while at it. Ranging from baseball (which was my favorite), to soccer, basketball, and football. Despite this long history in competitive encounters, the energy I felt in my two soccer games at Bal Ashram was like nothing I have felt ever before. The encouragement between players was inspiring to see, the amount of respect and sense of humility among the members of Bal Ashram (from the youngest to the oldest), was something that us BRIC’ers could aspire to achieve. Despite my very positive experiences in sports, I probably had my finest moment in a field at Bal Ashram. Where no matter, your age, your skill level, or gender, you had a spot. You were respected, involved and still had a competitive and exciting experience.Unlike the most important moment, choosing the most challenging moment is straight forward. The most challenging moment for me was saying goodbye to the students. During my time at Bal Ashram, any wonder I had of the boy’s past history seemed to not matter, instead what mattered was living that moment, moments of happiness and celebration. Moments where I learned many things from the boys and I hope they also learned for me. This did change, when I was saying goodbye, as my frame of mind did not focus on the moment, but instead on their futures. It was challenging to know that although their futures are promising, I may not be able to know exactly how they turn out or what is the extent in which they will be impacted. of their impact. As our bus departed and we left Bal Ashram, it was hard to leave knowing I might never come back. That the energy found in Bal Ashram would be hard to replicate in my near future.
Unlike the most important moment, choosing the most challenging moment is straight forward. The most challenging moment for me was saying goodbye to the students. During my time at Bal Ashram, any wonder I had of the boy’s past history seemed to not matter, instead what mattered was living that moment, moments of happiness and celebration. Moments where I learned many things from the boys and I hope they also learned for me. This did change, when I was saying goodbye, as my frame of mind did not focus on the moment, but instead on their futures. It was challenging to know that although their futures are promising, I may not be able to know exactly how they turn out or what is the extent in which they will be impacted. of their impact. As our bus departed and we left Bal Ashram, it was hard to leave knowing I might never come back. That the energy found in Bal Ashram would be hard to replicate in my near future.
One expectation that was challenged while at Bal Ashram was the level of adult supervision that the children had. During our stay, they were learning and being led by young people that were once in their shoes. Though I understand that their teachers are not in this position, it was both inspiring and exciting to see their mission of building their students for the future of their community (even if just for the duration of our visit). A self-sustaining mission that is very rewarding for the young boys of Bal Ashram and the alumni of the community. As a side note, in regards to the adults that were in a coordinating role with the kids (that I was able to observe), they acted as facilitators and are very well trained at creating inclusive and safe spaces. This is seen in their high level of respect to the kids, and the level of respect they receive in return.
It’s scary and freighting to know that one could contribute to child labor through the decisions one makes, specifically through our purchasing habits. Though, it can provide be time consuming to check the source of all your purchases, our trip to Bal Ashram and my experiences in the BRIC program has raised my concern for knowing the source of my purchases, in order to avoid contributing to the problem to the best of my ability. With access to the internet, doing this is very possible and one can help force many of these evils away by raising awareness about them when presented (and being vocal about them, with the masses and lawmakers for example). In addition to checking the source of my purchases, I will contribute to Bal Ashram financially, as I see it as a place that is creating the leaders of tomorrow, which will be ready to face some of India’s largest problems. Issues that are closer to me after a month of travel in some of its major cities.
To learn more or to support Bal Ashram, visit their website: http://www.balashram.in/home.html.