Unnati Handicrafts

Education apart, the children must be given a chance to develop and showcase their artistic talents as well. Unnati Handicrafts will enable them to exhibit their own handicraft creations to the public. The articles will comprise of greeting cards, calendars, shopping bags, jute bags, decorative pots, sculptures among other similar things. Money from the sales of these articles will be used for the rehabilitation of these very children.

“Unnati” in Marathi means progress and that is what is the purpose of Fulora Foundation by floating Unnati. At Unnati, street children will have the opportunity to earn a livelihood out of its creative works done by them, which will eventually make them independent, self-reliant and content.

As we already know how street children as well as deprived children employed in the chemical industries and other such industries which are emissions of toxic effluents, their health is at stake, despite a ban on child labour such practices are quite prevalent, these innocents children are afflicted with diseases ranging from tuberculosis to cancer. They work under such adverse conditions for long hours and measly wages. Its their artistic little fingers which are efficient and easy to work, unlike found in adults who have difficulty in doing the same work as these children do, this mere is the reason as too so much of child labour on in India, despite a ban on it, these unsuspecting individuals are employed by the owners of such harmful industries at low wages, these children fall for it in the hope that some day their condition might be bettered, it gets worse for them as they realise they are subjected to constant pressure, a small mistake would land them up with battered bodies as well as soul.

We at Unnati hope to slightly better their conditions, though we don’t claim to completely change their beleaguered state. It is a small step taken by us to partially reform their lives into something meaningful and later on these children themselves would lead to their complete refinement, which is our dream.

What we can do is instead of letting these children being exploited at the hands of their employer, why not we utilize it in a more creative way, which would not only give these children a source of livelihood but also a sense of dignity. These creative souls will learn drawing, crafts, painting, sketching, sculpturing, pottery, ceramic jewellery, embossing, mehndi, cartooning, calligraphy, caricaturing, dari making, embroidery, tapestry, beautician course, flower making, fabric painting, knitting, sewing, etc. These street children attending the classes are given free meals and primary medical aid. Along with this, they would be taught to read and write, and basic education on moral values. An exhibition would be organized consisting of handicrafts and other such things such as papier mache, diaries, envelopes, table matts, decorative papers, cushion covers, wall hanging, paper bags, calendars, small frames, pen-box cases, greeting cards, scenery postures, wooden toys, etc made by the deprived and the street children. All the articles are reasonably priced and the proceeds of their sale will go towards the education and development of the street children of Mumbai.

The revenue earned from this would go in further rehabilitation of these children. The items prepared under Unnati handicrafts can be purchased and gifted among friends. All required is fulsome wholehearted support of every caring being for the unprivileged children.

In order to implement our program, we staged a mini event in Juhu, at Santacruz S.N.D.T ground. The Sub Inspector of Santacruz Police station Shri. Kamble and the lady Sub Inspector Smt. Jadhav were present as the Chief Guests. The companies which participated in our cause in helping these children were Nestle company who provided dairy products, the Deepak company who gave colour pencils and other stationery, and various other book companies supplied us with drawing papers, which each individual at Unnati utilized the various products as per its needs. A fast food company catered for the snacks and drinks amongst these children.

There are many underlying problems regarding the condition of problems, which require serious probe. When an infant is born, it brings along cheer and happiness to its parents and other members of the family; all of them had been waiting in anticipation for that bundle of joy. Though a male child would bring more ecstasy than a female child, as son a would not only bring fortune to the family, but also will carry on his father’s lineage further, whereas a girl is considered to be a burden and has to be married off. It has been age-old patriarchal tradition that has always dominated our society. The subjugation of females at the hands of our archaic customs can be reflected upon the evils happening in our society, one of them being child labour. Since our topic of discussion is one related to the problems of children, there seems to be a need to understand the cause at its root.

Till now, we can realise how our orthodox monitoring of individuals carried out for centuries have been beneficial as well as harmful. To be precise, we see how the weaker sections have been exploited and looked down upon. Say for in case of women, they have succumbed to the vile codes imposed upon them by society, which looks upon them as not more than a commodity, that they should not break the rules defined for them. Such discrimination has been an age-old phenomena and it be no surprise, if our children too suffer injustices that are fighting out in a stuck-up capitalist society.

Children as they grow are full of dreams and aspirations, they form the future of our society, we as grown-ups look upon them, as the one who would in future would be instrumental in bringing about a change in our society. If we can inculcate the values of right living among them, it would ensure a tremendous upliftment of our society. We see so much of corruption, bureaucracy, dirty politics, red-tapism, environment polluting, etc, happening, which is further degrading of our society. If there is one individual who raises his voice against such atrocities, there are ten people out there who shut him down and we pride ourselves of being the biggest democratic nation. This is the kind of example we set for our youngsters and children, who are disillusioned by the functioning of our society and look towards the west, thereby aping them in every way good or bad. For them “Swadeshi” is as good if the west accepts it too. Because of our Children handicapped in the materialist perspective borrowed from the west, they lose their self-identity. If we can only make them aware of their existence in a righteous way, can we see our nation on the par with those of the western world, then it will be they who will lead on by us. They are the one to bring about a reforment in our society.

There is enormous distribution of uneven wealth among the under-developed countries, India being one among them, which leads to utter chaos among individuals. But then, it is only the poor people or the deprived sections who face the consequences of not enough money required for survival, for them luxury is a far cry. For the deprived beings, having a shelter, food and clothing is enough. They are just too accustomed in their struggle for survival, that apart from basic necessities, they don’t realise that they have certain rights, which they are entitled to for a better living. In India alone, ore that 70% people live under poverty line, these can be found in slums, jhuggi jhopadis, shants, old mutilated buildings, etc. They live under virtually unmentionable conditions, improper sanitation, unhygienic surrounding, and drinking water unfit for consumption, some thrive on food not even fit for dogs to eat, such pathetic conditions they live. Various rehabilitation programs for an improved living carried out for these deprived people has not met with much success, largely due to some anti-social elements who disturb the rhythm of our function, as they don’t want their illegal activities kept hidden in such areas to be exposed of, and also some of the most wanted criminals make their haven at such places and also carry out their activities such as smuggling, arms dealing, trafficking, etc with ease. The children living in such surroundings exposed to such scenario take up arms and drugs at a young age and ruin their lives. The ones, who take advantage of them, train these children as one of them and continue their business. We find children with pistols in their hands instead of books. These children who were born as innocents are now being turned into criminals. It is with proper guidance to these children can we bring about a change in their situation, through education we can achieve it, which will teach them the right ethics, morals and values, which has become utmost important if we have to save our land and man from going towards destruction.

Poverty, destitution, unemployment seems to find its place everywhere. We believe, that it is in the cities we experience this, but the villages are far worse. With the decline of cottage industries, agriculture losing its ground, work eludes the villagers. Famine stricken farmers sell off their lands to feed themselves and their family and later come to the cities in search of work to support their family back home. They reluctantly leave their native lands and try to adjust to the adverse condition, the fast-paced cities offer to them. The ruthlessness of survival shocks them, as they were so content with leading a peaceful and slow life in their villages.

Children lured to the cities on the pretext of employment in the wake of declining work opportunities in their native land face harsh problems. Such children usually come from a poor background with four to five siblings and frail health of their parents (who look upto them) come to this city of opportunities to give their folks back home a stable sustenance. Little do they realise is that what they dream of making it in cities is mired in illusions. These children enter city through their relative or known person, who promise the unsuspecting parents of employment to their child more than enough to rid of their poverty, some even go the extent of providing with education. With such high hopes, children as young as seven are sent off with these men, who are just on the lookout of cheap labour. These children are made to work from dawn till midnight, little do they catch up on sleep, initially they are too shell shocked to realise as to what is going on and suffer mutely. Their silence is further aggravated violently in the form of beating, if they do a slight mistake. They are thrashed by their merciless employers of no fault of theirs; it is based more or less on the psychological aspect as these employers are meting out their frustrations (as these employers are unable to sustain the rigours of hard life in a city) on these poor children. These vulnerable beings have no choice, coz if they demand to be sent back, they are tortured more and kept locked in a room without food and drink for days. Some children don’t even get paid for months and their parents back home wait in anticipation that some day they will get money and their condition will improve. But these parents, not even in their wildest imagination could suspect that their loved ones go through such cruel circumstances. They think that they are well looked after and their education too is being taken care of. It would never occur to them the fact that their little ones are not gliding through the midst of heaven, but they are trapped in the hell. In case of unfortunate deaths of any of these children, they are either thrown in the gutter or inform them as missing to their parents. These children work so hard for their employers and they pay with their lives.

The children who are rescued from the clutches of their cruel employers are sent back home safely, but by then their traumatic experience leave them mentally scarred off for life. It becomes difficult for them to come to terms with their life and start everything anew. Most of them are terribly guilt-ridden that they failed upto the expectations of their parents and will not be able to support their parents. These children hopes are shattered of making it big in cities by such atrocities meted out on them. This is the age for them to play and have fun, but they are forced to grow up because of their poverty. These children exchange their toys with hammer. Their problems are never-ending and continue upto adulthood, where the cycle repeats in itself: early marriage, many children, acute poverty and so on. The mistake is repeated again and again. There seems to be no solace to their woes. The required balance in their lives eludes them now and then. No matter how hard they bring themselves to give a new dimension to their lives, they fall victims to their prevailing situations, which all it wants is detailed assessment. This is the only way, if they really want to better their state as well of their family. One also finds that the children who come from villages are aptly skilled in handicrafts and are much more in demand in cities, with the fall of cottage industries in the villages, the adults are jobless and reluctant to pick up any other occupation, agriculture being one of them, therefore are forced to send their children to cities for work as these children have more takers because of their aptitude required in handicrafts. The children are easy to manage and work fast, and they are the cheapest source of labour available. Because of this reason we find many children working in most of the industries such as glass making, carpet making, dari making, etc. The children working in the matchbox, bidi-making, and fireworks company are subjected to harmful chemicals, which has a disastrous effect on their nervous system. Despite of repeated pleas by various NGO’s and other public interest bodies to stop exposing children to such pollutants, there has been no significant change. Hundreds of children are still employed in these companies and suffer because of the callousness of the head of these companies. The companies don’t realise that the children are not that susceptible to these emit tents as compared to the adults, given their frail physical state. For children, it’s a slow death. A child absorbs pollutants easier than an adult and tends to retain these pollutants in his system for a longer time causing serious respirator problems.