Rehabilitating rescued child laborers is a short-term perspective to the problem. The larger problem is rehabilitating every child who is abused and abandoned under conditions of poverty and lack of care. what is rehabilitation and what does it matter if the root cause of the problem is never addressed?
For example, is a “job” or “money” a solution to poverty? Is a house and food a solution to abusive child labor?
Short-term solutions, you will get lots of ideas, like funding for shelters and physical provision by bringing people together to deal with the symptoms which we can all see and notice. However, these don’t solve the long-term problem, which has a cause beyond people’s ordinary perspective of reality. Dealing with the cause will erradicate the problem in the end in a very successful way.
The long-term solution is one that I have been investigating, recognizing the cause of “child labor” as essentially the same as cultural poverty. Lack of suitable character development in children
I have a “Character Teaching” (CT) project that aims to address this issue, at it has a component that specifically addresses the immediate problem of “child labor” by abandoned and neglected children in the street. This component involves a time-money exchange of value between tutors and children. The project is described in more detail by the attached booklet.
I met with Ganesh Sharma and associates in Mumbai to discuss this project a few months ago. Ganesh has a school in Maharastra, and is on the CT consultation board, helping to gain support for the project’s operation. There is also a board member in Bangalore, where I visited as well.
Changing the mind-set of children about themselves, from one of disrespect and disregard, to one of self-respect and confidence, will gradually change the thinking in society about human nature. And, of course, it will solve the problem of child labor as well at its root cause. Children learning to respect and dignify themselves, having strong character of self-reliance and integrity, will find alternatives to degrading, unwholesome life-styles, and ultimately create a new society that dignifies all human beings.
Of course, this CT project goes against the popular idea that human beings are basically by nature evil and corrupt. It also views human being as spiritual in nature, rather than physical. So, this perspective is not popular or well-accepted in any culture.
The CT project has been offered and available since about 2001, and so far it has not gathered sufficient support for operation in any country, although interest has been demonstrated in a number of countries where this problem is most pronounced.
It still awaits operation to demonstrate its large-scale results to overcome child labor and poverty. Anyone interested is welcome to participate to help make this project a reality.
Lee Havis
Character Teaching
USA
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