‘Aim to touch millions of hearts’- A tale of two city slum kids

BHUBANESWAR: Unlike Switzerland, people residing here don’t obey zebra crossing rules on the roads. The European country is very kind  towards its children,” said Rupak Gouda and Jasmin Nisa of Science Park slum in the city, who had attended a children conference held at Caux in Switzerland recently.

The two children, who are active members of the Humara Bachpan child club, took a pause and said they saw several good initiatives taken by the Swiss Government for children. Their transportation system was child-friendly and living condition was also good, they added.

“An elderly people also says sorry for committing a minor mistake in that country which I found very educative and inspiring,” said Rupak, a +2 first year student reading in city-based Acharya Harihar College.

We were listening to Rupak and Jasmin’s success story in a small house in the slum which was connected with a narrow road slashed by small drains connected with dingy houses. When we asked Rupak about his feelings towards slum, the boy stopped smiling and said he had raised the issues related to the awful living conditions in Bhubaneswar slums in three international conferences held in New Delhi, Switzerland and Hyderabad.

In the conferences, Rupak and Jasmin had raised eight points related to slum problems including housing, water, sanitation, public space, electricity and public transport. “Living condition is very bad in the slums. We cannot get a good space for playing for which we feel dull,” said Rupak, adding, “The sewerage and drainage problems in the slums create breeding grounds for mosquitoes and other germs as a result of which we fall ill most of the time.”

Jasmin, a Class IX student of Unit-IX Government Girls High School in the city, said they have several child clubs in different slums of the city. Child advocates of the clubs meet together and discuss about different problems of slums. After discussion, they meet people’s representatives and Government officials to solve problems of their area, she added.

“Two years back, I had joined the club formed by Humara Bachpan campaign. The campaign helped me attend international child conferences to represent Bhubaneswar,” said Jasmin.

The duo said a group of children from different slums had met Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Mayor Anant Narayan Jena recently and discussed about different issues related to children. “We were very happy that the Mayor behaved with us like a normal friend and lent his ears to our grievances,” they added.

Jasmin, who wanted to be a social activist and fight for rights of slum people living in the country, said the Government should ensure that every girl child of the slums gets education and equal rights.

Rupak, who wants to be an aeronautical engineer to help the Indian Air Force, said every children of the country have rights to get education, live with dignity and get basic necessities which should be guaranteed by the Government. “We have been raising this point in every forum that the Government should help us in improving our living condition,” he added.

The duo was also selected to meet the President of India on the occasion of Children’s Day on November 15. They would represent the State in the national level.

The smiling little girl and the talented boy came with us to the end of the slum road to say goodbye. While leaving the place, Jasmin’s words, “Aim to touch million of hearts” were reverberating in my mind.

The story was published in The Pioneer English daily on November 5, 2014