Helping children to smile
Saturday, 7 November 2009
Md Shafiullah (Rajwan)
MY question was very common -- 'what do you want to be?' The answer was not simple -- 'I want to be Kopian.' I asked again and again to be sure of what he answered. At last I decipher the name 'Kofi Annan'. I got stuck for five minutes. What a visionary career plan it is of an 11-year old child of Thakurgaon!
It was September 2006 I was coming back to my university hall by bus. There was a 14-year old male child by me. I asked him, as it's my habit, what do you want to be in future. He replied "I want to be an Imam of a Masjid where I say my everyday prayer." It is disturbing for me to concentrate in Salad when I see that the aged people remove children form the front line and send them to the most back line in a mosque using rough sentences. Even sometimes they are physically harassed as they dare to position themselves in the front line to say prayer.
Frankly, I can remember that day in 2005 when we bought flower wreath from an 11-year old female children at Mall Chattar in the University of Dhaka. Being asked various questions, she revealed a pathetic but true attitude of lower class parents of earning money by their school-going children.
These real life experiences represent the true scenario of children in Bangladesh. But we think that every children are born with huge potentials and do just wait to be unlocked. They are limitations -- social, economic, physical, and emotional -- that prevent the children to unlock their potential.
Children: The jewel of the earth: It is undoubtedly true that it is the children who beautify the earth. As defined in CRC of United Nations, all who are less than 18 years may be called children. Children are mostly innocent, always smiling, free from ill thinking and with a soft heart to accept everything. They are full with potentials and require proper facilitation to be unlocked. There is no difference in respect to capacity, by birth, between two children of whom one becomes a doctor and other is trapped as a beggar. The only difference is facilitation and self-determination. That is what they receive from society. It is likewise an honest who had no magic box to become honest and a dishonest who had no experience of committing any prior crime for making him or her dishonest.
Children in our Society: Children in our society are treated differently in different situations. Children in the rich families observe more socio-economic benefits -- proper parenting, education, nutrition etc. But poor families can not provide their children with such facilities. In other aspects, a religious family emphasises on the need for moral development of children whereas many families are showing apathy towards this. These differences of opportunities and outlook that the children in the process of their development, experience in a society where many such children are caught in begging, peddling, factory work, etc. These are unexpected circumstances, beyond an educational institution. Lack of moral motivation and religious teaching motivates the children towards crime, eve teasing, acid throwing, drug addiction and other juvenile delinquencies.
Children in deprivation: If you have a glance at the pavement of Dhaka city or have experience to pass by a park and a stadium, your heart will start trembling observing the miserable conditions of children -- they are passing night without roof and bed, have no fixed place for toilet and bathing. Did you ever ask the questions: What is wrong with them? Why does a child of one month pass its life in a park?
At the time of our daily movement, we come across get many children begging for food, peddling light materials, passing life without clothes, sandals, houses, and even parents and siblings. This deprivation of basic necessities, supports, cooperation, and guidance make them extremists, cruel, and criminal. They are usually engaged in light crimes -- hijacking, stealing, fraud, etc. -- to maintain daily livelihood. Some immoral activities are also shown in their character -- drug addiction, acid throwing, and maltreatment with women -- as they do not have any moral and religious motivation.
Problems with children in riches: Don't be biased against children who are in problems only due to poverty. Rather improper upbringing, ill parenting and defected societal environment cause problems within children. "Gulshan resident Milton, 16, (not a real name) and his six associates are caught with 400 Yaba tablets last night", this story represents the nature of problems faced by children of new generation. Their behaviour is dominated by wastage, overwhelming consumption, abhorrence to poor, apathy to Islamic values, etc.
Deep into the problems: If we go deep into the problems relating to children, we can understand the situation well. Though all children are born with equal potentials, they grow up differently and experience different kinds of development in respect to their economic status and the process of socialisation they experience. So it can be stated that we have to address two things to ensure a society where children's potentials are properly unlocked. These two are: improving economic condition (in case of poverty) and providing proper agents for socialisation.
Let children smile in poverty: We may not remove poverty just rubbing a magic box but can make the children with poverty smile rubbing a magic box. Surprise? Of course, we can if the magic box contains sprit of brotherhood. The advantaged part of the society may extend their helping hand to encourage smiling faces among children. It's very simple.
Providing clothes: We may have more clothes and may not wear some clothes or choose some clothes less. It is a great opportunity for us to help our brother, who could not afford for clothing by providing our extra or old clothes. Besides we may have go for door-to-door campaign to collect old and extra clothes from the society and distribute them to the needy children.
Sharing Food: How beautiful it will be if we share our tiffin with our class mates, or we collect money to buy food for them! It will cost very little money to buy food for them as they require less but there should have an initiative and we have to come first.
Play together: We need no money to involve children with us in playground. Through playing, a nice relation will develop between us and them. Using this relation, we may understand their problems properly and extend our hand to help them.
Visit their house: Visiting the houses of poor children and inviting them to visit our house is the easiest tools to have good relation, with them. Though this process, we may convince our father to help our poor friend.
Celebrate festivals together: Every festival -- private and public -- such as Eid, birthday, new year, etc., should be celebrated together. We should extend our hand to manage clothes and foods for them. We may recall here a true story of Prophet Mohammad (sm). He brought an orphan who was crying in the morning of the Eid day to Hazrat Ayesha (R) and she managed necessary things (e.g., food and cloth) for him to make him happy.
Inspire doing well and discourage doing bad: We need to think about most of juvenile delinquencies that are happening in front of us or by our friends, classmates, neighbours. If we practise this great habit, that will encourage our friends in doing well for the betterment of society (e.g., giving food and clothes for poor, telling truth, saying prayer, observing purda, exchanging salam, and so on) and prevent them from committing any crime (e.g., eve teasing, telling lie, stealing, acid throwing, and so on), we can make a society where no children will cry and no crime will be committed.
At last it can be said that we live in a society which is full of people of various sorts -- one may have enormous riches while the other may lack it, someone may be devoid of moral character and the other may strongly possess it. This variation is very common in any society. If a society is based on brotherhood, there will be a bridge between all the classes, they will share their smile and cry and mutually they will build a happy society.
(The writer can be reached at e-mail: rajwanasia@yahoo.com)
MY question was very common -- 'what do you want to be?' The answer was not simple -- 'I want to be Kopian.' I asked again and again to be sure of what he answered. At last I decipher the name 'Kofi Annan'. I got stuck for five minutes. What a visionary career plan it is of an 11-year old child of Thakurgaon!
It was September 2006 I was coming back to my university hall by bus. There was a 14-year old male child by me. I asked him, as it's my habit, what do you want to be in future. He replied "I want to be an Imam of a Masjid where I say my everyday prayer." It is disturbing for me to concentrate in Salad when I see that the aged people remove children form the front line and send them to the most back line in a mosque using rough sentences. Even sometimes they are physically harassed as they dare to position themselves in the front line to say prayer.
Frankly, I can remember that day in 2005 when we bought flower wreath from an 11-year old female children at Mall Chattar in the University of Dhaka. Being asked various questions, she revealed a pathetic but true attitude of lower class parents of earning money by their school-going children.
These real life experiences represent the true scenario of children in Bangladesh. But we think that every children are born with huge potentials and do just wait to be unlocked. They are limitations -- social, economic, physical, and emotional -- that prevent the children to unlock their potential.
Children: The jewel of the earth: It is undoubtedly true that it is the children who beautify the earth. As defined in CRC of United Nations, all who are less than 18 years may be called children. Children are mostly innocent, always smiling, free from ill thinking and with a soft heart to accept everything. They are full with potentials and require proper facilitation to be unlocked. There is no difference in respect to capacity, by birth, between two children of whom one becomes a doctor and other is trapped as a beggar. The only difference is facilitation and self-determination. That is what they receive from society. It is likewise an honest who had no magic box to become honest and a dishonest who had no experience of committing any prior crime for making him or her dishonest.
Children in our Society: Children in our society are treated differently in different situations. Children in the rich families observe more socio-economic benefits -- proper parenting, education, nutrition etc. But poor families can not provide their children with such facilities. In other aspects, a religious family emphasises on the need for moral development of children whereas many families are showing apathy towards this. These differences of opportunities and outlook that the children in the process of their development, experience in a society where many such children are caught in begging, peddling, factory work, etc. These are unexpected circumstances, beyond an educational institution. Lack of moral motivation and religious teaching motivates the children towards crime, eve teasing, acid throwing, drug addiction and other juvenile delinquencies.
Children in deprivation: If you have a glance at the pavement of Dhaka city or have experience to pass by a park and a stadium, your heart will start trembling observing the miserable conditions of children -- they are passing night without roof and bed, have no fixed place for toilet and bathing. Did you ever ask the questions: What is wrong with them? Why does a child of one month pass its life in a park?
At the time of our daily movement, we come across get many children begging for food, peddling light materials, passing life without clothes, sandals, houses, and even parents and siblings. This deprivation of basic necessities, supports, cooperation, and guidance make them extremists, cruel, and criminal. They are usually engaged in light crimes -- hijacking, stealing, fraud, etc. -- to maintain daily livelihood. Some immoral activities are also shown in their character -- drug addiction, acid throwing, and maltreatment with women -- as they do not have any moral and religious motivation.
Problems with children in riches: Don't be biased against children who are in problems only due to poverty. Rather improper upbringing, ill parenting and defected societal environment cause problems within children. "Gulshan resident Milton, 16, (not a real name) and his six associates are caught with 400 Yaba tablets last night", this story represents the nature of problems faced by children of new generation. Their behaviour is dominated by wastage, overwhelming consumption, abhorrence to poor, apathy to Islamic values, etc.
Deep into the problems: If we go deep into the problems relating to children, we can understand the situation well. Though all children are born with equal potentials, they grow up differently and experience different kinds of development in respect to their economic status and the process of socialisation they experience. So it can be stated that we have to address two things to ensure a society where children's potentials are properly unlocked. These two are: improving economic condition (in case of poverty) and providing proper agents for socialisation.
Let children smile in poverty: We may not remove poverty just rubbing a magic box but can make the children with poverty smile rubbing a magic box. Surprise? Of course, we can if the magic box contains sprit of brotherhood. The advantaged part of the society may extend their helping hand to encourage smiling faces among children. It's very simple.
Providing clothes: We may have more clothes and may not wear some clothes or choose some clothes less. It is a great opportunity for us to help our brother, who could not afford for clothing by providing our extra or old clothes. Besides we may have go for door-to-door campaign to collect old and extra clothes from the society and distribute them to the needy children.
Sharing Food: How beautiful it will be if we share our tiffin with our class mates, or we collect money to buy food for them! It will cost very little money to buy food for them as they require less but there should have an initiative and we have to come first.
Play together: We need no money to involve children with us in playground. Through playing, a nice relation will develop between us and them. Using this relation, we may understand their problems properly and extend our hand to help them.
Visit their house: Visiting the houses of poor children and inviting them to visit our house is the easiest tools to have good relation, with them. Though this process, we may convince our father to help our poor friend.
Celebrate festivals together: Every festival -- private and public -- such as Eid, birthday, new year, etc., should be celebrated together. We should extend our hand to manage clothes and foods for them. We may recall here a true story of Prophet Mohammad (sm). He brought an orphan who was crying in the morning of the Eid day to Hazrat Ayesha (R) and she managed necessary things (e.g., food and cloth) for him to make him happy.
Inspire doing well and discourage doing bad: We need to think about most of juvenile delinquencies that are happening in front of us or by our friends, classmates, neighbours. If we practise this great habit, that will encourage our friends in doing well for the betterment of society (e.g., giving food and clothes for poor, telling truth, saying prayer, observing purda, exchanging salam, and so on) and prevent them from committing any crime (e.g., eve teasing, telling lie, stealing, acid throwing, and so on), we can make a society where no children will cry and no crime will be committed.
At last it can be said that we live in a society which is full of people of various sorts -- one may have enormous riches while the other may lack it, someone may be devoid of moral character and the other may strongly possess it. This variation is very common in any society. If a society is based on brotherhood, there will be a bridge between all the classes, they will share their smile and cry and mutually they will build a happy society.
(The writer can be reached at e-mail: rajwanasia@yahoo.com)