Monday, April 6, 2009

What Happens when...

My Maid brings her 13 year old niece to our house for her to learn to do housework cause she flunked out of the 5th standard 3 times and cant afford to keep trying anymore?

My heart breaks.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

and i had my maid she had to send her daughter to school no matter what. Loved that spirit of hers !!

Aniket Thakkar said...

Speachless...

The Nomad said...

Nanda didi's daughter refused to study further after 9th std. saying she doesn't want to so she enrolled her into nursing school and now the girl has been a proud nurse for two years. Now, that's something.

snow said...

that's not fair.

Farcenal said...

You pay the pittance that public school fees are and have the love of a family forever indebted to you?

That's what we did.

Abhishek said...

I like what Nomad commented. Education is important but in a country like ours where the responsibility of feeding your siblings might be forced on you at a very young age and finances might be meagre, its a good idea to get into schools that help you develop skills that can make u earn a dignified living and you also learn something out of it. And hopefully, when better times come, they can try and get back to studyin where they left off. I wish our society could accept this with a broader mind!

Tongue-fu Lady said...

@ snow: life is never fair!
Its easy to feel pity and sad from our comfort zones. But the truth is, in a 3rd world country like ours, we have more ppl in the BPL category. India tops the world hunger list.And how do you expect to feed those hungry mouths? Unless something is done to improve their standard of living, child labor will exists and these unfortunate kids will be deprived of education.

Serendipity said...

Hi SS - My maid has 3 kids of her own, all of whom are studying. she does housework in about 6 homes just to be able to suppor their education.
and good schools, at that.

Aniket - yep. me too. just couldnt elongate the post.

Hi Nomie - it totally depends on your perseverance. like i said, my maids 3 kids are all studying. This is her niece, who apparently not very good at studies and her mom just cannot supprot her anymore. (shes flunked out of the same std thrice)
way 2 go Nanda Didi!

Hi Snow - I know. Life isnt. Never was. Never will be.

Hi Shravan - that soudns right. Unfortunately, its a decision we cannot seem to convince her mom out of (and she is th ultimate decision maker). we tried.

Hi Abhi - right you are. we were trying to convince her to at least allow her to pick up sewing (mom was ready to sponsor fees) so she doesnt have to do menial housework. but then again. its not our place to decide. (I wish it was)

@TFL- Your right, ts a circle. wat to do. the only thing i tell myself is tht Im doing my bit, albeit in a small way/...we run pavement schools at Indiahelps. The next month fees is my responsibility.

www.indiahelps.blogspot.com
http://www.indiahelps.org/