HEALTHY TEENS

Adolescent Health Education sessions were conducted in Hadapsar community this month with adolescent girls. The objectives of this session were to

- Create awareness about health-related issues
- Control and prevent health-related problems
- Promote positive health and responsible behavior skills
- Support and help to develop an environment conducive to a healthy lifestyle.

The subject for this month’s session was the physical, mental and emotional changes that take place in adolescence. Our goal is for teens to understand the inner events that happen at this stage in life and learn how to regard and interact with them in a healthy fashion.

Under the Health Awareness Programs, we also had a Rubella Vaccination Drive for teen girls between 12 and 18 in the community . This vaccine is needed to prevent infection during pregnancy, when it can cause serious problems to the unborn baby. For this activity, we had a tie-up with Serum Institute, who provided Rubella vaccines at low cost. In this session we covered 46 teen girls.

LET'S CONTINUE TAKING CARE OF HEIR GLOBAL HEALTH

GIRLS FOR SALE

A farmer who was going through major economic troubles thought it would be a good idea to send his 16 year old daughter to New Delhi when she was offered a job there. He says, “She got on a train and said, 'Father, don’t worry about me, I’ll have enough money when I come back for you to marry me off”.

He never heard from her again. He added that “The police haven't helped us at all. They once went to the trafficker’s house but didn’t arrest him. They don’t treat me nicely when I go talk to them, so now I’m afraid to go”.

Meanwhile, in a slum in Calcutta, a man makes a living selling girls. Although he does not want to give his name, he does not mind talking openly about his business. "I have made a lot of money because there is so much demand for working girls and young prostitutes. Now I own three houses in New Delhi” he says. “I sell between 150 and 200 girls a year, from 10 to 17. “I don’t work in the field; I have people working for me. We tell parents that we're going to get jobs for the girls in New Delhi and then we take them to the placement agencies. What happens to the girls afterwards is none of my business.”

The trafficker claims to make 55,000 rupees (around €650) on each girl. Local politicians and the police seem to smooth things out. “The police know very well what we do. I have to tell them when I'm delivering a girl and pay bribes in every city. I've had trouble with the authorities but I’m not afraid. If I go to jail, I have enough money to pay my bail”, he says.

The director of the Criminal Investigation Unit responsible for combating trafficking in West Bengal, describes police corruption as “negligent” and says his unit is “absolutely determined” to combat trafficking. “We organize training camps and campaigns to raise awareness. We've rescued too many girls and will keep on fighting”, he claims.

“Simply changing the way police work is not enough. After rescuing a girl, what do we do?” wonders a representative of an NGO. “What we need is quick rehabilitation. We need social and legal systems that work.”. He adds that there is a lack of fast courts to prevent traffickers from getting out on bail so easily.

Even if corruption were greatly reduced, there would still be millions of children and parents living in abject poverty, struggling to survive. A lasting solution must necessarily take into account the origin of the social symptom, rather than just focus on the symptom itself.

LET’S SUPPORT THEIR EDUCATION SO WE CAN TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE SOLUTION

Source: elteologillo

SEAMSTRESSES CLAD IN BLACK

I visited a sewing course for women. Some of them are Muslims and dress in black. They live in a slum, amongst rules and prohibitions. Even laughter is banned for them, that's the most inhumane part, but when they get together to sew they can escape the rules. Here, they laugh.

Sitting beside women dressed in black from top to bottom is shocking. I was shocked at first, at least. I didn’t dare to take the camera out. I think I interrupted their routine. All of them looked at me, not knowing what was coming. Deepti introduced me and they introduced themselves one by one.

—I’m Gyoti.
—My name is Pallabi.
—Shagupta
—Mubina
—Aisha
My turn.
—Aïcha, Aïcha, écoute-moi…

They laughed, and I felt comfortable.

They are learning to sew, are just getting started. Making buttonholes, stitching material... Mubina and Aisha are sitting next to me. They had to leave school and started dressing in black when they reached puberty. Now they want to be seamstresses. Someday they will make colored dresses. The title of the text mentions seamstresses in black but not all the women dress like that, only the Muslims. Hindu women wear brightly colored kurtas. That's the only thing that tells them apart; aside from that, they get along well as community women.

Fundación Asha-Kiran created this course, and Deepti, the coordinator, showed me the project. There are four Rajesh sewing machines in the classroom that resemble old Singers. However, for these women, what they release by talking is more important than what they sew together with thread. “This is a place to talk, the only place where anyone listens. Also, this course may bring them monetary benefit”, says Deepti. “One of the keys to the success of this project is based on proximity - we offer the course in the community itself, and since they are close to home, it’s easier for them to get permission from their husbands. Besides, it's free”.

They put the needles aside for a while and we start to chat. Deepti is the translator and mediator. She magically combines sweetness and respect - it is obvious that her work fulfils her.

The women often talk about their problems at home, so as to release their burden and responsibility. “We usually laugh here”, said one of them,” without having to cover our mouths, as tradition dictates”. They all laugh freely here. For example, they let out a belly laugh when we said that men can wash dishes. “Yes, we know that household responsibilities can be shared with husbands but we would never ask them...”.

“We talk about the situation of women, about why there are so many rapes, for example”, says Nilofer, who has been the most daring when speaking. The women address three serious problems:

Rape. They comment that the media have worsened the situation. Before, violence or sex scenes weren’t found on TV. It wasn’t so easy to see pornographic films. “We can’t talk about sexuality, and movies are the only reference youngsters have. What they do is put into practice what they see in films and they assault any woman to that end”, translates Deepti, adding that “The problem is patriarchy. Also, they know how to choose a victim; they get the weakest one, one that won’t put up a fight”.

Social pressure. According to the women, this is the most serious problem - having to constantly worry about “what people think”. They began to give examples.

We can’t give our opinion because it’s frowned upon.
We can’t talk to men who are not family members.
We can hardly go outside and must always be home at 7 pm.
Our attire is established.
We can’t laugh freely.
The women eat after the men have finished. We eat what they leave behind.

Female child births. Women are seen as a burden in our communities. They are ill treated, they will go live with another family when they get married and will have to pay a dowry on top... why give birth to girls then? This puts pressure on women. “But us women are important, we are mothers, without us there is no birth”, Nilofer reasons.

When we were about to end the meeting, Pallabik, a woman who had been quiet until then, wanted to add something. “Why are we only talking about negative things? She will then tell them abroad and will give a bad image, but we can say, for example, that the President of India was a woman until 2012, and that the chief of police in Pune is a woman”.

Maria Antonia Artano, Journalist.

TOO YOUNG TO MARRY

Pratigya hears that Chandra, a village mother, is planning to marry off her daughter Basanti. Pratigya grabs her bag and pays a visit to Chandra. What follows is a friendly but uncomfortable conversation about child marriage. Basanti is just 15 years old. The two women talk about the reasons why parents marry off their daughters at an early age, and about the dangers of child marriage. They also discuss why it is important for girls to continue their education.

Later on, Pratigya says that “Local families often believe that if they do not marry their daughters young, they could start a relationship with a boy, something which would bring dishonor to their family. I explained to Chandra that we, as parents, should consider a different approach. Mothers should advise their daughters as friends, not only as mothers, so that the children will listen to their parents from love and common sense, not out of fear of being beaten”.

Pratigya lives in Bhawrak, a small village in India’s most populated state, Uttar Pradesh. With a population of nearly 200 million, the state also has the highest children population in the country. About 154 families live in Bhawrak, and they all belong to a socially excluded and marginalized caste. Until recently, children here rarely went to school, and the were often involved in child labor.

In collaboration with Ikea Foundation, UNICEF is supporting the Government of Uttar Pradesh to establish Child Protection Committees across the state. Now, the Committee in Bhawrak provides a safe environment where people can discuss various topics without fear of being stigmatized. Since the establishment of the Committee, Pratigya and other women have become agents of change. They visit homes and raise awareness on child labor and child marriage. Their message is loud and clear: children should be in school. Led by the village chief, these committees include several village elders, leaders, and two minors.

At fifteen, Anita is one of these minors. “My parents used to say they were going to marry me off soon, but thanks to this Protection Committee, the village elders have convinced my parents not to do so”, says Anita. Committee members have pledged to support the movement against child marriage by publicly stating that they will not marry their own daughters before they reach legal age, and their public commitment has had a significant influence on the rest of the village people.

While Pratigya and Chandra are chatting, Chandra breaks down in tears. Pratigya says that she had her older daughters marry at an early age. One of them has been seriously ill from a complicated pregnancy. Doctors have told her that the girl's uterus is damaged, and have attributed it to her pregnancy at 16. Chandra decides not to marry off her younger daughter. “I've learned from my mistakes. I promised Basanti, my youngest daughter, that she will continue in school and will not get married until she’s 18.”

LET'S PROMOTE EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN AND ADULTS

Source: UNICEF

RURAL CHILDREN IN DISTRESS

Madhav is a tribal child whose father committed suicide due to the impossibility of repaying his debts. Now, Madhav spends his days tilling his small plot of land or working on the farm of the person who lent money to his family. At an age when most children play and go to school, Madhav is a small adult who works tirelessly. Will he meet the same fate as his father?

Twelve years old and nervous, Madhav is a shadow of himself, a silent victim of hardships that have attained disastrous proportions in the entire Vidarbha region in the state of Maharashtra, India. Madhav is just one of thousands of children who, like him, have lost their parents to the agrarian crisis that ravages the country. Almost without exception, the children in the area seem desperately hungry. In many homes, suicides have worsened poverty. Discrimination based on caste and class aggravates the situation.

Having left school, a peasant child has no skills apart from the trade that has become a terrible nightmare for over 60% of India's population, especially for those who practice subsistence agriculture that depends on rainfall. Most children from homes devastated by suicide are forced to be farmers and embrace the same system that has swallowed up their parents.

So what does the future hold for rural India? A very bleak one, if the experiences of thousands of farmer adults and children are not ignored. Although farmers put food on other people’s plates, most can barely feed their own children. Girls are the most vulnerable; many also live with the guilt that when they marry, their parents will have to pay a dowry. In rural Amravati, a 18-year-old’s neatly written suicide note said that if she did not die, it was almost certain that her father would.

While various political and social initiatives come to naught, farmers in Vidarbha are going from bad to worse in terms of income, agricultural techniques, diversity, food security, health and social status. In recent years there have been about 5,000 farmer suicides in Vidarbha alone. Those who keep on trying have little hope of surviving.

Despite some government interventions, structural abnormalities have not been properly addressed, nor have the human dimensions of the agrarian crisis been fully understood. Data from the National Crimes Records Bureau show that there were over 40,000 farmer suicides in the state of Maharashtra between 1995 and 2007. The number of families and children affected by these suicides is staggering.

Viewed in the context of children's rights, the tragedy of children in the countryside raises the question of how to defend children's rights to survival, protection, development and participation if the problem has not yet been acknowledged.

When Rahul Gandhi toured the area, he asked a boy what his dream was. A farmer who was standing nearby said, “Don’t ask them to dream, ask them to face reality. They have no right to dream”. A surprised Gandhi politely suggested that he not be so pessimistic. The farmer insisted that it was better to face reality than to dream, because former would help them understand and overcome the problems.

Source: infochangeindia

CHILDREN IN DOMESTIC SERVICE

Two girls, barely 14 years old, were taken to New Delhi by a neighbor to work as maids. A month after leaving home, both girls died. Another 13 year old, also a domestic servant, was rescued from the home of a couple who went on vacation and left her locked up at home without food.

There are countless such stories of abused children throughout the country. In 2012, after years of relentless struggle by child's rights organizations, the Union Cabinet approved an amendment to India’s Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act. The bill proposed a ban on all forms of child labor, in particular the employment of children under 14. However, it has some important gaps as it still allows children to work as domestic help.

According to Thomas Chandy of Save the Children, “Engaging children in any form of labor and exploiting them is one of the worst forms of violence against them. It is important that the violation of the Anti-Child Labour Law become a non-bailable offence”.

Millions of children are denied their constitutional rights, and millions of employers violate Indian laws. ILO has set 2013 as the year to combat child domestic labor, which is a growing social threat in India. The demand for child domestic workers is at an all-time high. Only in Delhi, there are more than 100 employment agencies and thousands of child domestic workers.

Surprisingly, in many cases, employment agencies do not give any money to the parents of the children they recruit. There are no special laws to control these agencies. “Police take action against employers when a case is reported, but the law needs to be strengthened to act as a deterrent against child employment”, added Chandy.

Another important and often overlooked factor is the reason why children work. If these children did not live in extreme situations -abandonment or extreme family need- there would not be a case for more stringent punitive measures. A society free of child labor is not an impossible dream. It can also be achieved in India if the government and society come together to invest on the material and cultural resources that will educate all strata of society so that no one is left without the tools and means to live with dignity.

LET US PROVIDE THE MEANS

Source: savethechildren.in

HIV AND NEGLECTED MINORITIES

According to the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), “HIV has been treated in India for over 20 years, but not enough attention has been given to the needs of women and children”.

Women living with HIV/AIDS face great challenges: in-laws that refuse to give them their share of property or assets, hostility from society, almost no support networks and, sometimes, HIV+ children of their own. WINS, funded by ActionAid, has organized about 25 women's networks in Chittor district in Andhra Pradesh, where there are about 800 families with at least one HIV-positive family member.

“Infected women contemplate suicide; they must find a way to rebuild their lives," says R. Meera, from WINS. Women living with HIV have ignorance, rejection and destitution as common denominators. If they have support, some fight for their rights; many others accept their tragic fate and just give up when the pressure is too great.

Usually, says Meera, a girl gets married around 14 to a man twice her age. She is not told that her future husband is HIV positive. At the age of 16, she is a widow and may already have two children. She has no home to call her own, no food, no self-esteem. The villagers do not want to talk to her. Being an abandoned woman, she becomes vulnerable to sexual overtures.

If her case comes to be known by an NGO such as WINS, “We approach her and tell her that HIV is not the same as AIDS, that she can live, and live well”, says Meera. She begins to attend the meetings and can assess the possibility of getting back the goods that her mother gave her at the time of her marriage. She has the right to do so, but is afraid to ask for her share; she will not even have her own mother's support.

According to Meera, “To avoid confrontation, she may not claim what is hers, but ask for it to be transferred to her children”. Her in-laws assure her that it will be so, but reality will be otherwise. If she insists and there is a confrontation, her in-laws will see her as demanding and ambitious. She may be told to leave and take her children with her, with no money and no one to turn to.

“There are some lawyers that help women without means”, says Meera. “We try to find good lawyers and cover some costs. A rural dweller cannot fight without outside help.” However, women often risk their lives fighting for their property rights. A case in point is "Vidya's", who married a farmer. A year later, he had died of AIDS, Vidya realized that she was HIV positive, and her in-laws had driven her out of the house. She went to court to claim her property. The district court ruled in her favour and so did the high court. She died in 2008... killed by her in-laws.

LET US INFORM AND SUPPORT VULNERABLE MINORITIES 

Source: hivaidsonline