Invisible Hands
As a small boy, Kailash held his father’s hand as they were heading to his new school. It was his first day at school and he was both nervous and excited on this warm morning in Madhya Pradesh. When entering the school, Kailash saw a boy of his age sitting outside the school with his father, a cobbler, and mending shoes. Kailash turned to his father and asked:
“Why isn’t that boy coming to school with me?”
And his father replied:
“He is poor, he has to work.”
Unsatisfied with the answer, Kailash asked the cobbler himself why he didn’t send his son to school. He was told that some children are “born to work”.
Kailash was not satisfied with that answer either. In fact, he did not accept it. And he still hasn't.
Whenever we get the chance to ask a Nobel Peace Prize laureate some questions, we often ask: “Was there a decisive moment for you?” And for Kailash, it was this poor kid outside the school and how everybody seemed to accept the situation.
The Nobel Peace Prize for 2014 was shared between two laureates: one from Pakistan, one from India. Both are activists, and both have been working ceaselessly for children’s rights, despite dangerous circumstances. Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their fight against the exploitation of children and for their right to education.
How do they do it? Where do they find the courage? One thing, they get angry and they use that anger. They believe so hard in change that they nag and nag and never give up on their hope to change things for the better.
Aged 11, Kailash decided to collect used books and created a small library to help the poorest kids. Later on, he became an engineer, but his anger never left him and in 1980, he started working full-time for children’s rights.
Today, Kailash and his coworkers at BBA work tirelessly against child labor. Tips and research lead to rescue actions or raids in factories where children are exploited. Over the past 30 years, they have rescued more than 85,000 children and handed them back to their families.
Kailash also changed his name along the way. He used to be Kailash Sharma, and his surname reflected the high cast his family belonged to. He took a new surname: Satyarthi, which means “the seeker of truth”.
And the truth is: there are too many children working because their families are poor, keeping them out of school and hence keeping their families and societies in poverty.
If I asked you to take off one of your shoes and find out where it was made, most of you would probably find an Asian country on the label: Made in Cambodia, made in Bangladesh… Does this mean you should toss away your shoes and stop using your favorite brand? No. But what we can do is demand from our favorite shops that they ensure their shoes are made without child labor. Take action and participate in social media campaigns. Both Kailash and UNICEF underline the power of the consumer. However, boycotting a certain brand can harm the children even more. First, we must improve the working conditions for the children while we work with the main goal simultaneously: Keeping children out of work and in school.
There are still around 152 million child laborers in the world today, but things are heading in the right direction. According to UNICEF, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child ratified by all countries except the US, has helped tremendously to improve children’s living conditions worldwide. We need more people to follow Kailash’s example: “Don’t fight the anger, use it to change the world.”
Let’s get angry.
Share: