Field Trip_Youth Voice

At around 3 pm I reached  Dhalai bridge in VIP area, Kolkata. The bridge leads to a huge slum where I was greeted by Papiyan one of the youth group members. Their group is called Youth Voice and they work with the slum community in VIP area. By 3.30-4 all the members started stepping in.

Fourteen members were present including Papiyan.

 Every Sunday their group meets in the afternoon, in the small empty hut that is also used as a primary school in the mornings. Mats were spread out and everyone took a place and introduced themselves.

We started playing various games. After a while Papiyan asked Soumya, a 16 year old girl if she could share her thoughts with me. We both left the hut and took a walk outside in the nearby fields. I decided to properly introduce myself and explain her why I wanted to meet them and speak to them. 

State consultation on Child Marriage

In my endeavor to understand the problems of child marriage prevalent in West Bengal, I came across State consultation on Child Marriage in West Bengal, a book recommended by Himalini.

It depicts the plight of girl child revealing the social norms prevalent in the society that have gone to the extent of making child marriage an unacceptable folk custom. With West Bengal ranking 7th highest in child marriage, and the decline rate less than most states, it seeks urgent redressal. The patriarchal society needs to be hindered from inflicting violence over girl child. Many illogical reasonings are associated with marrying the girl child at an early age. From the age old rigid social customs to socio-economic conditions, various issues govern the decision of marrying a girl who probably by then has not even attained puberty. What eventually leads to is a gruelling ordeal, where the little girl is no longer a girl, but an object left mercilessly at the whims of this crude society.

Key Findings:

1. 40% of the child marriages in the world take place in India.
2. 25.4% of girls are married by the age of 15.
3. Malda, Birbhum, Bankura, Murshidabad, South Dinajpur, Purulia, South 24 Parganas, Nadia and Cooch Behar are areas with the highest incidence of child marriage in the state.
4. Child Marriage is comparatively higher in those districts where even trafficking is predominant.
5. One-third of all teenage girls between 15-19  in West Bengal have begun child bearing.
6. More than 25% of girls are married to men who are ten or more years older to them.
7. According to the patriarchal society prevalent in West Bengal, families prefer to divest themselves of their daughters through an early marriage, by doing so funds and facilities can be diverted to male children as they are believed to have a much more important status in the family hierarchy.
8. The grooms from other states generally do not demand dowry. During such opportunities parents do not bother to investigate the origin of the bridegroom and his family and quickly marry them off.
9. Marriage is considered as a Safety and Security Solution for many. 
10. Percentage of child marriage is higher in minority communities.
11. Child marriage is higher in underdeveloped regions.
12. Children borne to girls of less than 18 years: 1 out of 21 die in the first year and 1 out of 17 die before reaching age five.
13. Fathers and other key adults should be targeted and discouraged from getting their daughters married at an early stage.
14. Potential victims of child marriage are all under 18.
15. Child Marriage has itself emerged as a tradition influenced by a combination of social, cultural and economic factors.

Study On Missing Children: West Bengal

Facilitated by : Department of Women & Child Development & Social Welfare.

Government of West Bengal and Save the Children

December 2007

"Over the past five years, Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas has reported hundreds of missing boys and girls………and the numbers only keep rising. Most affected families have not registered cases, as they feel the police will not be of much help. Many bank on the hope that their children will return someday and it is better not to involve the police……Every other household in the village has a similar story to narrate.”— India Express, March 11, 2007, New Delhi

Children comprise nearly 42 per cent of the country’s population. With poverty, discrimination and exploitation, children are forced to leave their home and bring  money. This leads to withdrawal from schools, exposure to life threatening risks and social abuse by parents or/and employers or agents.

Key Findings:

1. Out of the 3 districts surveyed, there are 7.9% children missing.
2. 11.69% were reported to have left home on pretext of marriage.
3. 83.82% of parents did not report the case to police and tried to get information themselves.
4. Migration of children to urban centers is a socially accepted phenomenon.
5. Migration in most cases takes place with the consent of parents.
6. West Bengal is a key source of transit and migration point of trafficking. 
7. Delhi is a major destination point for girls especially as domestic servants.
8. Two-third of the children missing are girls.
9. Befriending parents of vulnerable family is the key to this trafficking business.
10. Parents realise their child is missing when there is absence of communication and the flow of money from the place where child is, stops.
11. General National apathy and malaise in the administrative system compounds the problems further.

The project deals with the issues which adolescents face and since the issue of trafficking is at an alarming rise, adolescents need to be explained that working or marrying at such a tender age does not guarantee a better life than what they currently have. Through means of education they can become more aware and grasp the life skills necessary for their survival. The importance of education should not only be communicated to the adolescents but also to parents, as they are usually the key influencers of their children. The main reason as to why parents send their children or the children themselves get lured into working is because they want to have a BETTER life. Lack of opportunities and low levels of literacy force them to give up their childhood and move to cities where scope of work is much higher. This ranges from working at factories, working as domestic help, etc which is dangerous at their age.

While reading the report I felt there is a need to instill a strong sense of respect for education, the qualities that emerge from being educated should be demonstrated and how it could help in the long run. Just as the Life Game takes players through their entire course of life and as a result they learn what are the possible opportunities and threats one can face, similarly a game can be devised that takes one through the opportunities education brings and the threats for not pursuing education and instead getting employed or married.

Field Trip_Ujaan

The games, booklets and the space had to be designed for the various adolescent groups. Out of the 18 groups associated with Thoughtshop Foundation (TF), five of them were selected. Visiting these five diverse groups would give me an idea as to how they function, the issues they deal with and the kind of background each one comes from in order to understand the problem better.

I first headed to Ujaan, at Lily Bagan opposite Bengal Rowing Club, Lake Gardens, Kolkata.

YRC MEMBER: Krishna Golder, Raju, Bandana 

Other Members: Sraboni (15 yrs), Shibani(14 yrs), Anuradha(15 yrs), Sanatan(17 yrs), Sandip (25 yrs), Malik Sheikh (21yrs), Gurupada Giri (45 yrs), Basanti (14 yrs)

Time: 3.30 pm

Entering the park of Lily Bagan, Krishna, Raju and me walked towards an uplifted cemented  platform covered under the shade of a huge tree. It has been constructed for the park visitors and can be used by anyone. Krishna and Raju have been involved in counselling adolescents from their community for a few years. They put up the banner of Ujaan, the only visible signage that marks the place of meeting.

After which all three of us waited for the community people to join. Vandana came along with Anuradha, Sraboni and Shibani. Sraboni was carrying a game in her hand. All of us formed a circle and sat down. Each of us narrated how we spent and felt about the week that has passed by. 

Later two more boys joined the group, Sanjib and Sanatan. It felt that Sanatan was going through some tough time and preferred to remain quiet. Soon after this we decided to play games. I demonstrated how we could play standing kho-kho. Then we played (mansh-chor) dog and the bone, Tom and Jerry, etc. In between this Basanti and Malik joined us followed by Gurupada Giri. 

Since there were mainly group activities I could barely speak to anyone individually. I decided to meet them again and made arrangements to speak to two of them later. The details of the interview are as follows:

The First Day

Received a hearty welcome from my mentors Himalini, a communication design graduate and Santayan, an industrial design graduate both from NID at Thoughtshop Foundation. Since everything begins with a cup of tea at NID, the tradition followed here as well with our project discussion soon rolling with simmering cups of tea.

Thoughtshop Foundation( TF) operates through Youth Resource Cell (YRC) which in turn imparts information of life skills and protection to adolescents. The members of Youth Resource Cell  are residents of a certain locality which they represent as a YRC group and focus on empowering the adolescents of that particular locality. There are about 18 YRC groups that operate across the state of West Bengal both in rural and urban areas. The approach taken up is through games as they are:

• Experiential Learning
• User Friendly
• Empower barefoot trainers and peer education
• Facilitate discussion of taboo and sensitive issues
• Reduce Hierarchy

Since Thoughtshop has been using the game approach to give important message to the society as well as helping them solve the problem and initiate working in community, Himalini suggested that I first devote time in understanding the context that is:

1.  People involved in the whole process (adolescents, their families, neighborhood, YRC member)
2. Demographic profile of the area concerned.
3. Issues being faced by diverse community groups.

SPACE

Since the groups meet weekly and they generally meet for a few hours there is a need to call on the children’ attention, hold on to their interest and leave a positive impact on them. However all this has to be done in a span of few hours. Himalini suggested that there could be possibility of creating a portable structure in the space where meetings are held. Also inspirational messages could be mentioned along with  the structure.

 BOOKLET

A supplementary booklet has also been compiled, which would be given to each child that would enable them to list their strengths and good qualities. Since most children come from families where they are routinely abused in some way or the other, they have a low self morale and opinion. This booklet will serve as a prized possession for each child. The content of the book has been compiled but the format and design needs to be created.