Today started in a slum – a place by a large river with huge flats of fertilizer bags stored on the shoreline. Because of course the very poor don’t mind this! We walked down narrow alleys, often with tiny streams of filthy water running along side. Each single room house shared walls with the next one, made of wood and rusty corrugated tin. Occasionally we past a pump, often being used to wash clothes or rinse off. Shared latrines sat along side. Mostly women and young children marked our entrance – the spots of beauty and color in this dark place. Then we entered the Child Friendly Center – an oasis of warmth and light, with colorful drawings and posters, balloons strung on the ceiling and mats on the floor. Shoes were removed and we joined two little girls, Sumi and Aysha, both age 12, and their families to hear their stories of child labor. Both girls had worked as housemaids, 7 days a week, 7 hours a day for $4 a month. They fetched water, swept, washed dishes, cleaned, and were scolded for any misstep. Today, they are both in school and catching up.

Sumi lives with her father, mother, and younger handicapped brother. Mom had a stroke a few years ago and has little use of her right side. Dad drove a rickshaw but with its rent, he did not make enough to feed the family so Sumi had to work. Briefly, when WV identifies a child laborer, a whole process begins. First, the family and child are asked if they would like to withdraw the child from working. To us, the obvious answer is Duh! But it is not so easy. Literally, pennies can make the difference between survival and starvation, so the child’s income can make that difference. WV will assist the family for one year, to help them get on their feet. A one time grant (about $14) is given for the child’s school fees, uniform, books. Also the family is assisted in its business. In Sumi’s family, a rickshaw was purchased for Dad so not paying rent makes all the difference. But the employer also needs to agree to let the child go and the schools need to agree to take an older child who needs much remedial help. It’s quite a process and when it all comes together, it is a life giving miracle!

These parents are so committed to their children and their education – paying for tutors and coaches to give the child the assistance the parent cannot provide. Most have had little, if any education themselves.

Sumi’s dad is a wonder – a rare man so committed to his wife and children. Due to Mom’s disability, Dad does all the cooking and housework, as well as his job. He told us, “Don’t make your child vulnerable.”

The other little girl, Aysha, is a lively, cheerful little sprite. If yesterday I was thinking about my grandson, Elliott, today it was Emma. Aysha also plays soccer and proudly showed us her medal for a successful tournament. I showed her Emma’s picture, holding a soccer ball. Little girls half a world apart, having so much on common. Aysha’s father left the family when Mom was pregnant with Aysha’s little sister. So, at age nine, Aysha had to go to work. Now, she is in the appropriate grade at school and Mom has a little grocery business which WV helped her launch. Although, Mom was given the initial few items so get going, she quickly expanded her stock and also bought a sewing machine, totally on her own, so she makes clothing as well. She is so grateful for the seed money but is also now so proud that she is making it on her own.

We then visited each girl’s single room home. The houses were crowded but neat and clean. Each square inch serves a purpose. In Sumi’s home, there is only one bed and the two children share it. The parents sleep on the floor! The sacrifices these parents make for their children puts me to shame. Their commitment costs so much more than mine did. And I got to sleep in a bed!

Our next stop was with a group of local businessmen. They have joined together to support the community and each other. Now please picture this – a group of hardworking Bangladeshi Muslim businessmen meeting with a group of American women, even handing out flowers as we arrived! That was enough to rattle the senses but then they proceeded to talk, at length, about their commitment to eliminate child labor and to each other. We spent over an hour with them, just in awe of what we were hearing. These men are now in partnership with WV and, after the meeting, proudly showed us a few of their shops – as always, open fronted little places where much hard work takes place. A sign forbidding child labor hung in one doorway.

Next stop was lunch back at the hotel. We had the privilege of being joined by Sumi’s and Aysha’s families. We were quite the group!

After lunch, we headed back to the slum and the Child Friendly Center. Now we were greeted with enthusiastically thrown flower petals and 20 young girls, ages 11-16. Some in their school uniforms and four dressed spectacularly in brilliant dancing costumes. All of these girls were housemaids and are now in school. They meet together twice a week for training in life skills, to support one another, and just be young girls again. They were brilliant! Then the dancing started. If I haven’t mentioned before, I will now. Whenever dancing begins, eventually we are pulled into it! Trying to follow the graceful moves is often quite funny. The videos made might be blackmail material! But really, it is such fun to laugh and dance with these children who have lived through so much. Now they dream of becoming, doctors, teachers, police officers.

Breaking into three smaller groups, we had time to hear individual stories – none less hard to hear even though they are so similar. Family hardship, abandonment, long hard hours of work, and finally rescue. Heartbreaking is way too overused to begin to describe these girls’ experience. But they still smile, laugh, and have dreams.

At each of these places, there is a girl or two who catches my heart particularly. I’m not sure why. We start to exchange glances, then smiles, and end up with hugs and sometimes tears. Word don’t matter. These are the faces I will remember as representative of the larger group. It was hard to say goodbye to them.

Our last stop of the day was at a Positive Parenting class. This is a terrific program to train parents in healthy ways to interact with their children. There are eight hour and a half sessions over four weeks. Separate sessions are held for dads and moms. Here, they learn to encourage their children, support their dreams, not beat them and so much more. They also gain support from each other and then go into their communities as ambassadors of this information. All love their children and wants to be good parents. But with long generational patterns, the stress of life, and little knowledge of normal childhood development, new ways need to be learned. What a great program!

And finally back to the hotel for supper! Have you gotten tired just reading all this? The days are so rich and full, I often end each day thinking my brain cannot absorb anymore. And one wants to stay engaged and present all the time. Hard as I find it to believe, our visits are a big deal to these people! And they are certainly a big deal to me so the least I can do, is give myself to them and the experience. But I’m a “little” drained each evening and so sleep, writing, and chats with God recharge the batteries.

What a day this has been!