MUMBAI: Ten-year-old Heena Sheikh, in a shabby frock and pyjamas, is standing under a creaky fan in a cavernous corridor. Sheikh is up against an older, stronger girl. The instructor, a boy in a tracksuit, barely touching adolescence, screams, "Start!" Sheikh lunges at her opponent, knocks her down, and wins applause from the small audience. A Std VI student, Sheikh won a gold medal in an inter-school judo championship held in the city last year and now is waiting to represent her country. She could well have been rummaging through garbage heaps as countless rag-pickers are destined to. Fortunately for her and for at least 84 other children in the city, Bal Jeevan, offers a ray of hope. The initiative, which began in 1994 from under a tree in Santa Cruz, is fuelling dreams in hearts where once bitterness and hopelessness resided. The 85 children, aged five to 18, and tended by Bal Jeevan in two modest rooms of Vakola municipal school in Santacruz, will grow into confident, responsible citizens. Unlike their parents who were mauled and molested in the underbelly of the city, these children will have better fates. "It always hurt me when I saw children scourging the garbage heaps," says octogenarian Firoze Sethna, the force behind Bal Jeevan. "Everyone is concerned about slum children. But few care for these kids who virtually live on the roads, without a roof over their heads." These children who would have probably remained unlettered, are today attending judo, yoga, dance and painting classes, apart from getting integrated formal education. Apart from receiving two sets of school uniforms and reading material, every child gets a healthy mid-day meal. We try to provide them with at least one square balanced meal, says Gulie Engineer, a full-time social worker. Engineer and her sister, Roshen Reporter, is one of the nine Samaritans who have collaborated with Sethna to enhance the lives of rag-pickers. "Its never easy to dissuade poor parents from making children earn early." Each child earns Rs 30 to 50 every day. So, initially, their parents resisted. "But now they appreciate our efforts, Sethna says, who along with her colleagues, drives down to the Vakola municipal school building every Thursday to check on the children's progress." They depend on Sunil Satpute, a short, swarthy man in his mid-thirties, who facilitates the smooth functioning of the centre. "He does everything, from distributing books to arranging additional classes, for the kids," says Engineer. This effort began on a shoestring corpus of Rs 7,000. Though Sethna refuses to reveal the current financial status, she claims it is, not bad. We pool in money. Some friends also chip in occasionally, she says. When Karan Johar and Farah Khan won Rs 25 lakh at the Shah Rukh Khan-anchored KBC 2 recently, they donated the entire prize money to them. The government and politicians, predictably have done precious little. The BMC which has rented out two rooms to the group for around approximately Rs 12,000 a year, often threatens them with eviction. "We don't expect anything from politicians. We will never approach them," says Sethna, her wizened face glowing with confidence. "We need our own place soon, because we can be thrown out anytime." The beneficiaries of Sethna's services are acutely aware of the difference the work has made in the lives of rag-pickers. Sixteen-year-old Arun Rane has lived with his family of four under various bridges in and around Santacruz, ever since he was born. This 10th standard student dreams of clearing the matriculation exam and studying further. Conscious of the constant deprivation, he turns philosophical when he says, "My life would have been spent amidst garbage, but for their help. 'Sethna madam' and her friends gave me new hope as well as a new life." mohammed.wajihuddin@timesgroup.com
Fonte: Times of India - India
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