The other day I saw a child servant (this is the only way I can describe it) although I would have preferred the description of child slave beaten savagely by the mistress of the house over a trifling matter. The barely 10-11 years old had slipped and fallen and in the process had broken a saucer. The neighbours intervened but the woman only relented when someone threatened to call the cops and the press. But her tongue did not stop working as she violently cursed what she called interfering wicked folks. In the process she said she had no remorse for what she had done and that she owned the child and what she did with her was her own business. She also assured us she was going to send the youngster home (her father had left her there) immediately, that is the following day and she could starve in the village with her parents and other siblings.
Why do people behave so insensitively? This is the age for that kid to go to school. It certainly is not age to be separated from her parents. It is acute poverty that drives our people from the villages to seek better fare in the towns and cities. Sometimes the grownups cannot leave because they have to take care of the rest of the family and so send their youngsters to work as servants in people houses. And the woman was not paying any wages to this girl servant. She only received food and board in exchange for her labour. And we learnt that she went to sleep around midnight and woke up at six!
Ayesha Akhtar
Kalyanpur, Dhaka
Why do people behave so insensitively?
FE Team | Published: March 21, 2009 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
Share if you like