Rachel KotyEnglish 9March 5, 201

Kailash Satyarthi

Imagine growing up dirt poor, with no hope, no dreams, and no future. From the age when you should be starting school, instead, you will work long hours in dangerous conditions. You will have no opportunity to get an education. In fact, many children in third world countries don’t even understand the concept of education. Kailash Satyarthi has dedicated his life to giving children in underdeveloped countries the education they deserve and to free them from bonded or slave labor. This situation typically results when a destitute family borrows much-needed money and gives up a child as collateral. If the money is not repaid, the child may be sold to another owner, be forced to work in dangerous conditions, or even be sold as a prostitute or an organ donor (University of Michigan). This is the fate of millions of children in India and other countries, and it is an issue that troubled Kailash Satyarthi even as a young child. From the time he was in grade school, he wanted to help those less fortunate. In his efforts to end bonded labor and child servitude, Satyarthi has organized and led many important organizations. Without courage and motivation, Satyarthi would not be the leader he is today.

When he was just 6 years old, Kailash Satyarthi was troubled to see a young boy close to his own age working everyday with his father, rather than going to school (University of Michigan). He was humbled by this experience, and the seed of social consciousness was planted. The circumstances of this one child, from a poor family, working, and unable to attend school, illustrate the societal ills that would motivate Satyarthi over the rest of his life. In the process, he set his three main goals: “(1) eliminate child labor; (2) educate everyone; and (3) alleviate poverty” (O’Meara). Since that time, he has been motivated to help less fortunate children. When he was 11, Kailash Satyarthi organized the collection of books and money from classmates to help underprivileged families send their children to school (University of Michigan). He chose a similar tactic in college when he organized a used-book bank, so his fellow students could borrow textbooks when they could not afford to buy them. In college, Satyarthi studied engineering, but he later switched paths to journalism and edited a bimonthly magazine called The Struggle Shall

Continue (O’Meara). “During the mid-Seventies and early Eighties the magazine campaigned on human rights activities, in the course of which the extent of bonded labour, forced labour and child slavery became clear”(Hindle). Once Satyarthi was exposed to these problems, he was no longer content to simply write about issues and was frustrated with the lack of response. . .nothing changed; he wanted to act out and fix them.

Satyarthi’s first effort to achieve his goal of freeing children from bonded labor was the founding of the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA). This is the home organization for the SACCS (South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude) and the Global March Against Child Labor. The BBA conducted raids on businesses using child labor and to date has freed more than 82,800 children (Bachpan Bachao Andolan. Save the Childhood Movement). Very soon after his early success in freeing child workers, Kailash Satyarthi realized that simply freeing these children wasn’t enough. They needed to be educated. Without educating them and offering them opportunities to advance, the cycle of poverty would persist. In 1991, he began the Mukti Ashram to support and educate children freed from child labor and trafficking. At Mukti Ashram, “[Satyarthi] sets up leadership-training and skill-building programs for children he has freed to make sure

that [they] have skills to take care of themselves and that they are not browbeaten back into a slave-labor situation”(O’Meara). This is now a model for assisting freed children to overcome their trauma and have a chance to reenter society. Another effort by Satyarthi was the establishment of Bal Mitra Gram, meaning “child-friendly village.” These villages are persuaded to end all child labor and enroll all children in school. Over time, Satyarthi hopes to form many more of these villages (Bachpan Bachao Andolan. Save the

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Childhood Movement). He stated, “We are planning to extend the BMG programme to more states. The BMG model is a recognised model with ILO, UNICEF and Winrock International having recognised it as a best practice model to eliminate child labour”(TNN).

Satyarthi understood the need to broaden his base of support if he hoped for any greater success in ending child servitude. Satyarthi “worked to philosophically label [child slavery and bonded labor] as a human rights concern instead of a welfare matter by arguing that child labor is largely responsible for the agreed upon social evils of illiteracy, poverty and population explosion”(Architects of Peace Foundation). The Global March Against Child Labor was another way of raising awareness of this issue. The first march took place on January 17, 1998 with thousands of people marching all over the world. Satyarthi says, “The Global March Against Child Labour is a movement to mobilise worldwide efforts to protect and promote the rights of all children, especially the right to receive a free, meaningful education and to be free from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be harmful to the child's physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development" (“Kailash Satyarthi...The Seeker of Truth”). As Satyarthi himself and his movement have gained recognition, he went on to develop the Rugmark Foundation, which is now known as GoodWeave. This organization “oversees the making of carpets to ensure that no child labor has been involved in the creation of the products”(O’Meara). As part of the GoodWeave contract, manufacturers promise not to employ any child under 14 years of age and to allow unannounced visits by inspectors. In the future, GoodWeave plans to include additional environmental and social measures in their certification standard (“Kailash Satyarthi...The Seeker of Truth”).

Figure 1 offers some insight into the cycle of poverty that Kailash Satyarthi is trying to end. It charts the population of illiterate adults in the world, meaning they are unable to read and write. As shown below, 33.8% of the 799 million illiterate adults in the world live in India (UNFPA State of World). These adults were denied an education as children, and they are now barely able to provide for their families. Their children are unlikely to receive any schooling, as well. Kailash Satyarthi is working to reverse these statistics, so the next generation in India will receive an education and be able to read and write. These poor children deserve the same opportunity for education that we enjoy. What makes them less important than us? Nothing. If they don’t receive an education now, they will stay illiterate when they grow up, being unable to earn enough money. Their children will not be able to receive an education because they are barely able to afford their

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basic necessities. This problem will persist unless something is done about it. That’s where Kailash Satyarthi comes in; he is working to give children in India and other underdeveloped countries the education they are very much entitled to.

Figure 1http://tinyurl.com/m8n862n

Satyarthi’s work to end child labor has made him the enemy of many powerful businessmen and politicians. Many people and groups are willing to use any means necessary to stop his work in freeing child slaves (University of Michigan). With his very first raid to free bonded children, Kailash Satyarthi took risks to follow his conscience. While Satyarthi’s movement has become more powerful and gained support, the dangers have grown as well. By now, Satyarthi is well aware of these risks; he receives constant death threats, but he continues to fight. “Two of Satyarthi’s colleagues have been murdered and in 2004 Satyarthi was violently assaulted during his group’s effort to free Nepalese girls from forced labor as circus workers " (University of Michigan). More recently, in Delhi in 2011, he and his partners

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were attacked as they helped save children working in garment sweatshops (“Kailash Satyarthi...The Seeker of Truth”). Satyarthi has learned to accept these risks. He says, “I have always taken such incidents as a big challenge. The fight against human slavery and trafficking is no mere charity. It is a tireless struggle….They can kill our body, but we will emerge again like the phoenix” (University of Michigan).

Kailash Satyarthi embodies the concept of “Think globally, act locally.” As a young child Satyarthi was motivated to help the six year old boy go to school, so a few years later, he organized a book drive to collect money and books to help kids go to school. Not enough. Then, he collected used books in college. Not enough. Next, he edited “The Struggle Shall Continue”. He later decided that writing about these problems is not enough. After, he organized raids on places where children were being forced to work (and he did this several times). Not enough. Later, he started the Ashrams, where the children he freed can be educated and reintroduced to a normal life. Not enough. Following, he realized that he alone could not accomplish what was needed to eliminate child labor, so he positioned it as a human right’s issue on a global scale. Not enough. Today, he is still working as a global advocate for children’s rights. With each success, Satyarthi was not satisfied; instead, he was emboldened to aim higher. Kailash Satyarthi began his life of activism over 30 years ago by acting locally. Now he is a global leader in the fight for children’s rights.

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