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„Don't forget us“

In the streets of Indian cities, poverty is omnipresent and visible for everybody.

Also in Varanasi. However, beyond this holy and vibrant city on the Ganga, outside

the urban area, there is poverty which remains unnoticed by most and far from any

help. One of these places is the Musahar Ghetto near Sakara. This article describesthe first steps of a new education project in this poor area.

It takes about two hours by motorbike to cover the distance between Varanasi and Sakara, asmall town in the East of the State Uttar Pradesh. A part of Sakara is the Musahar Ghetto: 120

 people live here, 39 of whom are children. Uncommonly, people from outside visit this place,

 because it is outside and there is not even a road, merely a bumpy path. As you enter the

Ghetto, you see the people living in self-made barracks of mud and straw. Some trees that

 provide shade, apart from that there is not much: a standpipe, skinny dogs and after some time

small children come from the fields after they hear the noise of the arriving motorbikes.

Peoples' Vigilance Committee on

Human Rights (PVCHR) wants to start

a new project in this ghetto. PVCHR is

a Human Rights Organisation, founded

in Varanasi in the year 1996. Its goalsare to provide basic rights to all and toeliminate situations which give rise to

exploitation of vulnerable groups, i.e.

children, women, Dalits and working

class people. Now the children in the

Musahar Ghetto should achieve some

education. PVCHR wants to send two

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teachers regularly into the ghetto, but before this can be realized, members of the organisation

visit the people to talk with them and to catch up on the children's situation.

The People in Sakara's Musahar Ghetto are extremely poor. Some were born here, some have

moved to this place, but they all come from the

same low Musahar caste. Due to their caste, and

the fact that Sakara is controlled by upper-castelandlords, who have strong networks including the

 police and the local government, the people from

the ghetto have very few rights. Most of the

 people from the ghetto work in a brick factory

near the village, which is owned by one of the

landlords. However they do not work regularly,

they have to ask for labour every day. “If we get work, we earn 100 Rupees on a good day and

20 Rupees on a bad day“ says one of the men. The loan depends on the mood of the employer.

“Sometimes we work 16 hours a day, between 4 am and 8 pm“. The labour at the brick factory

is exhausting. All the more tragic is the fact that even the children work at the factory. Becausetheir parents don't earn enough, they see no other way.

PVCHR wants to teach the children how to write

and do math. Two teachers, a woman and a man

would visit the ghetto regularly. But first, the parents

have to be convinced that their children will benefitmore from education than from working in the brick 

factory. If they are able to write and do math, they

will be able to get better jobs outside of the ghetto.

The parents do realize this, but for now they need

the money the children earn. The situation is not

simple. For the moment it is hard to improve the people's circumstances. They lack everything: Food,

electricity and medicine. One of them, an older man

named Mohan has been suffering from a stomach problem for about one year. However he has

no money, so he can't pay for medicine. Even if he had the money, the nearest doctor is too far 

away.

After talking to the people and getting an idea of the

children's situation the members of PVCHR left the

Musahar Ghetto. The next step is to search for twoappropriate teachers for the new project. The money

for the project is provided by the Global Fund for 

Children (GFC). The GFC is an American

organisation, which wants to advance the dignity of 

children and youth by making small grants to

innovative community-based organisations in situ.

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When the people from PVCHR were about to go, one man troubled them for one last thing: “Please,

don't forget us.”

Written by Stephan Braig 

Links: Global Fund for Children:  www.globalfundforchildren.org

PVCHR: www.pvchr.blogspot.com

www.pvchr.org

Author: www.schoenesindien.wordpress.com (German)