I also deserve Happiness

There are many times when I think to write about Child labor, every day I write a few lines but these all are re-placed by the new ones, and this happens every time I try to do so. But today I have decided no matter what comes in my mind today will be a part of this script.

Children are considered as flowers of heaven. In other words, Children are compared to flower as they are soft & their beauty is in their color & softness, if it is handled harshly, they lose their shape. Same situation is with children, if they are overloaded with work more than their abilities, it can also cause severe adverse affect on them.

Today, children are compelled to do such things which are hectic and take a lot of strength even from the adults. They are not only engaged in mental but physical activities as well. They are doing work in small hotels, factories, industries, also as bus conductors, trash pickers & so on. Poverty, unemployment, traditional customs, is found to be the biggest cause of this problem.

There are many children who want to study but due family pressure & poverty, they do work for the sake of in-come. "I want to get education but if I will study, then who will be the source of income of my family, I am the only son of my parents, they have a lot of dreams regarding me, & I have to fulfill their needs & earn money for them", replied a thirteen years old boy, Salahuddin, while he was working in a general store, when I asked him to seek education for his betterment.

Fateh Ali, a child known as a nerd in his school life, completed his matriculation with B grade in his board exams did not continued his studies. When asked why he took such an action, he told me that his father was against his education since he was three, but due to his mother’s emphasize on his education his father agreed, but now his father wants him to earn at least 3000 rupees for his family & quit education & utilize his skills to earn money. Fateh Ali’s words touched my heart & I was thinking if I was having enough power, I would have surely done something for that children.

When asked from a 16 years old Jehanzeb why he doesn’t study, he said, "My father is a bus driver, he was also a bus conductor when he was of my age as doing such a job is sort of our family tradition”. His words emphasized me to ask him why his father doesn’t employ someone. He told me, "If we employ another person, he will also take some type of income". I was shocked that he is looking younger physically but his mentality is that of an elder but due to such experiences he gained from life, Jehanzeb continued that “I want to study but my father will not even allow me to go to school”. Jehanzeb’s words struck mind & I thought that child labor has brought so many adverse effects on children, thus it has minimized their own precious lives.

We do not have to wait until we get rich enough to eliminate child labor as all this is happening around us & if we fail to rid it off our societies, it is going to keep on destroying these innocent lives. We forget to feel the pin of those little hands. We conveniently walk away from the helplessness of those innocent eyes. To feel the world and to make it a better place to live IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY.

Karim Boolani

Tabanis School of Accountancy, Karachi.