Ashish Koul
“A band of terrorists asked me, “Jannat dekhihai?” (Have you ever seen heaven?). I said I had. Then, they quietly strapped on to me an explosive jacket and set me off for a suicide mission to Kano, along with three other girls. I could not take innocent lives…I could not get myself to pressing the button.”
There’s a rampage of recent news coverage on every channel and website about a courageous Fidayeen girl who refused to explode a suicide bomb in the second most populous city in Nigeria, Kano. This baffling act of bravery shown by a mere 13-year got me thinking. “Did she know what would be the consequences to her own life on failing to comply with the Boko Haram extremists?” “Will she go down the same road as Ghazala?” I remember Ghazala from Bhopal, who became the unshaken voice for over 20-25 years for a social welfare organization working with countless victims of misfortune. A frail victim of a war against humanity narrated her plight – her immune system gradually weakened, her sight lost permanently. She says the Government acknowledged her existence by providing her financial compensation to get on her feet but NGOs and other social welfare organizations failed in extending adequate support for her to start a normal life. Lack of cohesive after-trauma care and compassion has numbed her from asking for help, as a result of which she doesn’t generally meet any representatives of social welfare or media to bring forth her pain-ridden stories. So I can’t help thinking. This Nigerian girl the world is celebrating – will she also gradually forget to smile, lose her voice amongst many others and just find herself tangled in her own fight for survival on her own?
Yet, memory serves us with another story in the newspaper about an unknown boy called Guddu (name changed), who was rescued from the clutches of bonded labour to find refuge in a media action programme that promised to help many other enslaved children. Together they travelled to world conferences for their stories to be heard, stayed in 5-star accommodations, and reaped compassion from the various pools of audiences that listened to their stories. But on turning 14, all help was withdrawn. The organization asked him to find his own place in the world. His own little world, his village, was now alien to him and he couldn’t turn back. The rest of the world turned a deaf ear while he fell prey to depression and soon, passed away. A boy, who sought inspiration to fight against bonded labour, whose aspirations for freedom were nurtured so by NGOs, who gave his face to bring into spotlight thousands of victims of bonded labour; was it justified to send him back into the life-consuming darkness?
Another perplexing case of Uttaranchal-hailing Pooja and Rahul is brought to mind. They were paraded across various media channels as children of AIDS-stricken parents who were struggling for food, shelter and education. Show organizers informed the world, through the teary eyes of Pooja and Rahul, how families with HIV-positive members are shunned by society and left with little means to survive. But what after? Pastor Victor Singh, 60-years of age, paints walls of other houses, to provide for these destitute children. Day after day, the children pray to God to let nothing come in the way of their education. But where is the NGO that employed their story to bring forth their fight against the social stigma of AIDS? I recall my meeting with Victor Singh who asserted that he has shared his story with every social welfare organization who claimed to deliver support for AIDS victims. But did anyone come forth to extend support? Sure, media’s memory is refreshed about the sufferings of these kids around World AIDS Day. “We have made our peace about the world being indifferent to our plight and that all we can do is embrace our current circumstances. And of course, we have our prayers.” said Victor.
In reality, it doesn’t matter if these exceptional children, these poor victims of circumstances, hail from Uttarakhand, Bihar, Bhopal or Nigeria. They are victims of circumstances because we fail them through our half-hearted efforts. Non-government organizations (NGOs), charitable trusts or corporates help in bringing forth their heart-breaking stories and show them, through a rose-tinted glass, a possibility of a better tomorrow. A tomorrow where they get to keep their share of dignity, food and shelter as well as the luxury of dreams. But once social welfare organizations canvas their stories on to the world platform for a brief span of time, they are shunned into oblivion and nobody knows where they went or what happened to them.
Well-renowned psychiatrist, Kushal Jain, gives us a glimpse of these victims of temporary spotlight. They are constantly pervaded with angst, hurt, distrust and vexation, to an extent that the entire society seems to them as their enemy. They become soft targets to drugs and alcohol as a means to escape their unbearable reality. What Dr. Jain elucidates further about these victims is even more disturbing. The parents of these victims cannot handle the short-lived fame and promises of radical change. They are not able to accept the fall in circumstance and as a result, suffer from a condition called Displaced Identity. Their evasion from reality coerces them to unlade all their pelt-up frustration on these poor kids. The world averted their eyes from them; children can handle. Their own parents despising them becomes a burden too heavy to carry. Soon they give in to depression. Suicide in such cases is not uncommon.
Undoubtedly, NGOs give these children a platform to share their indelible stories, that can further open avenues for help and support. Their raised voice helps in giving substance to the social issues they represent and as a result of which, the Government is compelled to come up with reforms and take measures to extend support to them. They are no less than brand ambassadors of the social cause that they represent. The efforts and achievements of an NGO are validated through the real faces of these victims on media channels world over and across various platforms. Undoubtedly, they are rewarded with some remuneration and the hope of finding their livelihood in the world that has been so hostile to them. But does it end there? Isn’t it also the moral responsibility of these NGOs to give shape to their tomorrow, to rebuild their futures, after wiping it with a clean slate?
I don’t think there is a remarkable difference between these crusaders of social causes and brand ambassadors of products and services. If brand ambassadors of products and services are given their due status, then why not these children? They should also sign an official contract that gives them their livelihood and dignity. Why should they be used as mere media tools to advertise a social cause with no status?
However, it should also be said that organizations such as UNICEF, CRS and BBC, do take appropriate steps of undertaking approval from the children’s guardians before using them as a face of the organization or the social issues they are meant to represent. These organizations also help them to unveil their stories without exerting any pressure or influence. But no society can radically transform itself to eradicate these issues, let alone transforming these children’s trauma-ridden lives. Eventually, their stories end up as a consumable, sob-inducing piece of news on headlines world over that may touch the hearts of millions but maybe not enough to drive them into delivering these children from their harsh realities.
Other social welfare organizations, such as Prerna, Salaam Baalak Trust and Magic Bus are coming forth to make a difference to these children’s lives and give them the mental prowess and direction that is crucial for children in their growing years. But, such organisations are very few. Numerous children who documents their shame of domestic violence, rape, child labour and child marriages gives their voice and identity to the social organizations. But equally numerous organisations fell short of delivering justice to them and they were driven, yet again, into the shambles of depression, angst and anonymity.
Priti Patkar, a child protection activist, his offers a feasible solution to this rising epidemic. She suggests that the NGOs that bring these children into limelight are also responsible for helping them to embrace this change. They should mentally condition these children to not build castles in the air and to not hold promises of a better tomorrow immediately after coming forth with their stories. That there may be a possibility of no radical changes in their lives to follow. They need a reality check. And they also should be granted the freedom to say no to broadcast their stories. I think that the Government has largely failed in monitoring and seeing through issues of social welfare and progress. We cannot overlook the fact that social welfare organizations work on an ad-hoc format and refrain from undertaking any responsibilities of the victims who enshrine their work. There are also loopholes in their system for evading responsibility. Does this mean that NGO’s and various social service eco-systems need to be admonished? – Certainly not.
The work that numerous NGOs, volunteers and Institutions is un-paralleled considering the fact that our respective Governments have failed to administer a social service agenda that of welfare and community development. The fact, however, cannot be overlooked that these institutions do not have self-regulated mechanism to offer sanctity to the very real heros and faces that let them use real situations and circumstances in hope of a better habitats and lives. These children are at real risk of having their lives permanently scared unless there welfare is protected. These children are not educated and have no knowledge of their rights, they cannot speak for their rights and hence these children cannot stand up and ask for a contract and a royalty. Irrespective, these children are fast becoming a fodder to fuel the human greed for power and influence, a sad reflection of the parity between the high-flying jet-setter NGO executives and the dreams that rot post a sumptuous buffet.
Until some sort of reforms take place, it doesn’t matter what the face of misfortune is. It could be a Nigerian Fidayeen girl, Ghazala from Bhopal or an unknown Guddu…they will be forever etched onto our hazy memories as case studies of catastrophe, drawing a remotely close resemblance to Zoology specimens, preserved for no particular purpose.
(The author is a marketing and brand management professional. The views are personal)
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