#ChildhoodAtStake

I met this young girl some time back in a rural village of Uttar Pradesh. She was sitting alone in her comfort zone, working on a piece of cloth. In some parts of our country, specially the rural belt, girls are still taught to do embroidery or other types of needlework as a part of household chore. My inquisitiveness to know and see what this young girl was upto, I approached her and started talking to her. She was so engrossed in her work that she hardly paid any attention to me. So, I just started a friendly conversation in order to make her at ease. She goes to school and comes back at two in the afternoon and tries to finish that beautiful artwork and also aims to finish it in one month’s time. I asked her what is her dream? What she wants to do in life? Unfortunately she had no answer. Her long silence broke my heart and I ended it by saying that you should study more and think of becoming a teacher or a doctor after growing up. I left that village but that ‘silence’ still troubles me. Sitting in metropolitans we hardly realise the need of rural India, the conditions in which our young children are bound to live.

These young ones need our support, direction and opportunities to have a meaningful and wonderful life. Lot of interventions are happening in the country but still we lack in giving these young ones a meaningful life. We have to do more, we have to take serious steps, we have to save every child’s dream. This has to be done with you and me coming together for the ‘CHANGE’ because #ChildhoodIsAtStake. Join us!

Richa Sharma

Founder – offdhook.com