CAN YOU HEAR US?

The sound of silence, the cry of innocence, the face of invisibility, the dreams overlooked, the voices of our children, unheard. Their frightened and exhausted eyes cry out their urgent questions.

“Is the world so poor that it cannot give me a toy or a book, instead of forcing me to take a gun or a tool?”

“Can’t I have a dream?”

“What is my fault?”

These never ending queries of the underprivileged children pose a serious question on humanity. Can we hear them?

There is no greater crime than to deny the dreams of a child. Knowingly or unknowingly we are all committing this crime every day. In pursuit of a “happy” life we neglect the fact that some of us are living a “doleful” life. Yes, they are one of us, with equal right to freedom, equal right to education and equal right to lead a happy life!

I remember, years ago when I was a little girl, a cobbler used to sit outside my school gate. He was a little boy like me, not more than 8 years old. Everyday I used to think why is he outside and I am inside the school? What have I done to deserve this privilege. One day I finally gathered the courage to ask him, “Why don’t you come inside the school?”. His answer did not mean much to me then, but today as I think of it, it makes me tremble. He said, “My father never had a dream, and so I am not allowed to have one. Perhaps, I am born to work!”

A childhood lost in the shackles of poverty, a teenage struck with incertitude. It’s definitely not their fault, it is ours. It is our fault that we overlooked their happiness under the shadow of ours. It is our fault that we have failed to hear their cry, their cry of agony.

Whose children are they who stitch footballs, yet have never played with one? Whose children are they who harvest cocoa, yet do not know the taste of a chocolate?

It deeply saddens me when I come to think that in a country like ours where there are over 2 million temples and over 551 million schools, there is no place for the dreams of the underprivileged children.

Beyond this darkness, I see the smiling faces of children in the blinking stars. In every wave of every ocean, I see the children playing and dancing. In every plant, tree, and mountain, I see that little cobbler boy sitting with me in the classroom.

Is it the lack of compassion within us that is hindering the holistic development of these children? I think it is. So let us globalise compassion, for these children.

Ever looked into the eyes of a poor child? They sparkle with hope, they sparkle with dreams, dreams unacknowledged, dreams that the society has deemed as insignificant. This is what we need to change, this perception of the society that has taken a hierarchical trend in the impact of atrocities. Every single minute matters, every single child matters, every single childhood matters.

Let us all march from exploitation to education, from poverty to shared prosperity, from slavery to liberty, and from violence to peace.