MORE BOYS THAN GIRLS

India is failing to end the practice of female child abortions. The latest UN data are that for every thousand boys born in the country, there are only 918 girls. These statistics go against the natural balance, affecting the whole of society and putting the country in an “emergency situation”. 

In recent years, the government has tried several measures to avoid selective abortions, such as banning portable ultrasound machines so parents will not find out the sex of the baby, or restrict scans to cases that are medically necessary. Young girls born to families with limited financial means also suffer more neglect, they are taken less to the doctor and they are fed less than their male siblings. 

What gives rise to this situation is the widespread view that girls are a burden to the family. This is the mindset that needs to be changed. Parents prefer to have a son because when he marries, his wife will become part of the family, while daughters leave. Also, paying a girl’s dowry can be a significant economic burden. 

These factors represent a great obstacle to a change in this trend, but we wish to face this challenge intelligently on the way towards a more equitable society in which girls and boys will have the same worth in the eyes of their parents and a privileged place in their hearts.

LET’S WALK TOGETHER TOWARDS THE CHANGE WE WISH TO SEE IN THE HUMAN FAMILY

Source: elpais.com

MOTHERS, FATHERS AND TEACHERS

Parents play a very important role in the lives of their children. They have the duty to build a solid foundation for their children which will give them the emotional stability and the knowledge necessarry for them to have a successful and rewarding life. The foundation needs to be built at an early age, and to keep on being built throughout adolescence.

The Parents’ Meetings at all of Asha-Kiran’s Projects provide a platform for awareness raising among parents, where the Project Coordinator plays the role of a facilitator and a source of information and guidance. 

In our last meeting, we discussed the need for parents to

- Provide education for their children so they can have better opportunities in life, irrespective of their gender.
- Participate in school activities, especially in Parents-Teachers Meetings every month.
- Visit the child’s school regularly to check their performance.
- Interact with their children about their school, syllabus and teachers.
- Be attentive at parents’ meetings and share all their queries, ideas and thoughts with us to make the meeting more interactive and fruitful.

LET’S HELP PARENTS BRING UP THEIR CHILDREN

THE ORPHANS' MOTHER

Sindhutai Sapkal’s life began being an unwanted child. Her husband, who abused her, abandoned her when she was nine months pregnant and she had to give birth alone. The incident affected her deeply and she thought about committing suicide, but instead, she began to beg on railway platforms to feed her daughter. 

Over time, she realized that there were many orphans and abandoned children in the streets. Having had to endure many hardships herself, she decided to adopt them and started begging more intensively in order to feed them. That's how she came to be known as the “orphans’ mother”. “I was committed to caring for and raising them as my own children. I'm there for those who have no one”, he says fondly. At 68, Sindhutai has many stories behind a strong personality full of energy and passion.

To date, she has adopted and fed more than 1400 orphans, helping them to get an education and supporting them to get ahead in life. Sinduthai is affectionately known as “Mai” (mother). She does not give children up for adoption and treats them as if they were her own. Some of them are now lawyers, doctors and engineers. 

With love and compassion, Sindhutai has built a large family. “By the grace of God, I had good communication skills. I could go talk to people and influence them. Hunger made me talk, and this became my source of income. I give many speeches in various places, and this provides some money to care for my children.”

Sindhutai’s unusual life is an inspiration. Even after facing so many difficulties, she has remained strong and has found her way into everyone’s heart, proving that it is possible to turn lives around as well as the lives of thousands of people around them.

LET'S HELP TURN LIVES AROUND

SEWING TO PROSPER

The basic and advanced fashion design classes started in May with 33 women from the Community Project. Jan Shikshan Sansthan (an offshoot of the government’s Human Resource Development Department) is working together with Asha-Kiran by providing sewing machines and a professional teacher.

The main idea behind the training is to manufacture cloth pouches and thus create business opportunities for the women. As they undergo the training, they will become more skilled at cutting, stitching, making combinations, making the best use of the fabric, and creating quality pouches.

For marketing purposes we have a group of six volunteers from Symbiosis International University and Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce (BMCC) who are helping us to set up the supply chain, all the way from finding a source of the raw material, to whom to contact once the product is ready. All the volunteers are very good at managing databases, preparing proposals, setting up meetings with buyers and suppliers, and promoting this business on social networking sites.

LET’S SUPPORT THEIR TRAINING AND FINANCIAL SELF-SUFFICIENCY

EDUCATING AND RE-EDUCATING

Child marriage is commonplace in India, where more than one third of all the child brides in the world live. According to UNICEF, nearly half of the girls are married by 18 years of age, and 18% are married by the time they are 15. For the most part, girls are married off without their consent Indian law has made child marriage illegal, but it is still widely practiced.

Action for the Rights of Children (ARC) and Asha-Kiran came together to organize a two-day workshop where the grass root level workforce of the organization worked with youngsters from our community. Various tasks were given to them to perform in groups as a way to raise awareness about the damage that marriage can cause before a person is physically, emotionally and psychologically mature.

The minors also received information on who to consult and go to regarding cases of child marriage. The participants were asked to spread the newly acquired information among their respective families and community.

EDUCATION IS KEY TO PROGRESS – HELP US TO INFORM

JUNE 12TH: MILLIONS OF CHILDREN STILL WORKING

Just as India has the highest number of children in the world, its number of working children is equally high - around 12.6 million, according to government figures. The Right to Education Act aims to ensure free and compulsory education to all children up to 14, yet children are found toiling as semi-slaves in every imaginable and unimaginable place.

Child labor robs children their childhood and their chance to grow in a healthy and wholesome atmosphere. Not only is their present in danger, but also their future and their offspring’s future, as the cycle of ignorance-poverty is perpetuated by their lack of education or training.

The fight against child labor needs to be long and sustained, and has to address all strata of society. Mindsets must be changed universally so that something commonplace can be seen as an aberrant practice by the same eyes that now consider it ‘normal’.

Let us, together, help to open these children’s and their parents’ eyes to other possibilities – to another way of living.

VIOLATED AND MURDERED

Around a thousand dalit women, belonging to the lowest rung in the caste system in India, are raped each year. Their status as 'untouchables' puts them at the base of the social pyramid, where their future is practically marked from birth - a bleak future indeed.

A police officer figures among those arrested in relation to the recent gang rape of two teenagers who were later hung from a tree. Despite tougher laws, rapes continue to occur. Unfortunately, implementation of the laws can be severely hampered by the caste mindset. The father of one of the girls told the local media that when he went to the authorities, they made fun of him for being a dalit.

The activists claim that rape and murder do not get wide media coverage when the victim is an 'untouchable'. In addition, "Violence, or its threat, makes girls drop out of school and women stop going to work. This vicious cycle keeps women and girls poor and vulnerable," according to the program director and Action Aid policy in India.

An important part of Asha-Kiran’s work is to educate and re-educate families on values such as gender equality. Without this education, dalits and other disadvantaged social groups will continue to be the target of harassment and violence, and their girls and women, the most vulnerable among the vulnerable. With your solidarity, we can continue to 'open their eyes' and provide the means for their hopes to have a visible effect in their lives.

JOIN US IN THIS PRESSING TASK

Sources: elmundo.es / elpais.com