Posted on: 30-10-07 08:30:25
Hi
We get to read story in TO star on the front page on : Child labour in India"
I wonder why the story published below does not take the same position in their paper,
US cultural exchange turns into nightmare for Pune girl
Little did the 16-year-old Nikita Dhavle know when she left Pune for the US with dreamy eyes and an idealism of a cultural ambassador, that she would return in three months, with a scarred mind and a fractured hand.
In what turned out to be a nightmare, Nikita, a bright student of a city school, selected under a cultural exchange programme of the American Field Service, landed in of Minnesota in the first week of August unaware of the hostility that awaited her in the form of the host family in Pipestone.
"I was asked to clean the kitchen, dining room, wash clothes, clean utensils, mow the lawn. I also cleaned the barn where the horses were kept," the girl, who returned to India on October 26, told PTI.
"It seemed to me that what they wanted was a domestic slave who parades as a cultural ambassador," a disillusioned Nikita said.
Nikita, who joined the Raff family in Pipestone after an AFS local coordinator screened the host family.
She was in for a rude shock when after two weeks, Ryan, the teenage son who was away, returned home.
"I came to know later that he was on probation for drunken driving," she said.
Nikita, a keen learner with good academic and extra-curricular activity record, joined the Pipestone Central School to utilise her 11-month stay under the programme. But her problems with her host family continued.
"Ryan hurled abuses at me and said he the never liked the concept of cultural exchange. I used to wake up to violent arguments between the boy and the host mom and at times I saw them wrestle with each other on the floor. The lady of the house used to ask me pretentiously whether I was overworked but never cared to reduce the load," said Nikita.
"Once in a fit of rage, the host mom physically pushed me when I requested her to encash my cheque as I needed money. Ryan took every opportunity to insult me."
A fall in the barn fractured her left hand. The Raffs took her to hospital to plaster it but did not care to keep the follow-up dates with the doctor, Nikita recounted. By that time the girl who had made a favourable impression at the school, had begun to think of returning home.
She spoke to her parents in Pune and sent an e-mail to AFS functionaries in Delhi urging them to bring her back as she was no longer interested in completing the stay. Nikita was directed to the local coordinator of AFS who told her "You can change the host. But it could be from bad to worse. All families here are the same. Learn to accept and take things in good humour."
With her disillusionment mounting, and the fracture of the hand adding to her agony and she decided to put her foot down and told AFS officials that "students who come here do not deserve this treatment".
The emotional bruises inflicted on Nikita did not escape the attention of an alert faculty member of the Pipestone school who was fond of her and the teacher sounded the local sheriff that all was not well with the foreign student who looked sulky and depressed.
"I could have proper meal only at the school for lunch. At home the cooking was subject to the whims and fancies of the host mom. For two weeks, I only ate omlettes at home. When I requested her to teach me some American preparations, Ryan said teaching you amounted to teaching a dog," Nikita recalled.
"Sheriff Dan Delanie was a nice man, he spoke to me affectionately trying to understand my predicament. He said I could change the family if I want or return home as per my wish," Nikita said.
When she conveyed all the concerned that she wanted to go back she was advised to cite 'homesickness' as the reason for her premature departure.
But she refused despite repeated pressure and stuck to her stand that she was not comfortable there.
Meanwhile, Nikita's mother, Anita, a school teacher, and her uncle Sarang Kamtekar, who is vice president of Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena, the students' wing of Shiv Sena, contacted some Indian Americans settled in Minnesota appealing them to help her out.
Kamtekar said they got a very heartening response from the Indian community who contacted Nikita and was ready to arrange for her return journey. But her status of a minor posed some legal difficulties.
Finally on clearance from the Sheriff, the AFS functionaries decided to send Nikita back cutting short her stay.
She was sent to Chicago where she failed meet with an AFS contact who was supposed to put her on a flight to Amsterdam en route to Delhi.
"With none to escort me and my hand in plaster evoked suspicions at the airport and I was subjected to extra scanning at every point", she said.
On her arrival in Delhi, Nikita met Adnan Siddiqui, cultural counsel at the US embassy. He had been briefed by AFS activists. "He told me he would look into the matter," said Nikita, who returned to Pune with her uncle Kametkar who has demanded action against the host family in Minnesota who subjected her to mental and physical torture.
© Copyright 2007 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.
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So true.........I read the child labour story a bit in the morning, but totally missed what you have put.
It is time some of us wrote a letter to TO Star pointing this out and telling them that all they are trying to do is defame India for some unknown reason.
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Chandresh
Advice is free – lessons I charge for!!
Child labor in India is a reality which canot be irradicated if we refuse to face up to the truth. Young children work in extremely hazardous conditions making firecrackers. Many other industries also employ children usually at less than bare minimum wages.
To a privileged Indian child brought up with domestic servants to take care of house-hold chores, life in an average North American house could seem torturous. Unlike Nikita Davle, most Teens in North America are used to doing household chores, earning their pocket money, fixing a sandwich for dinner and undertaking the stress of living in single parent homes.
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goldie
Quote:
Originally posted by goldie
To a privileged Indian child brought up with domestic servants to take care of house-hold chores, life in an average North American house could seem torturous. Unlike Nikita Davle, most Teens in North America are used to doing household chores, earning their pocket money, fixing a sandwich for dinner and undertaking the stress of living in single parent homes.
What's the point you are trying to make here? Nikita should get used to this life? In cultural exchange program, you do not work as a maid - you are there to learn about different culture. You are supposed to be treated with respect (and equality). Your well being (including proper meals, which Nikita did not get as per the post) is the responsibility of the host family.
Let me clarify...I do not condone any form of physical or emotional abuse of children, whether they are from under privileged or privileged families. My objection is to the fact that we want to ignore the existence of child labor but make a hue and cry because somebody had to do house-hold chores. In North America we clean our toilets and pick up doggy poo as a routine part of daily life and believe in dignity of labor. The very concept of using feudalistic terms like 'working like a maid' appals me. Dignity of labor is North American culture and I would think learning this concept (amongst other things) is what a cultural exchange is about. Also eating omelettes and fixing your own dinner is not the end of the world.
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goldie
Quote:
Originally posted by goldie
Let me clarify...I do not condone any form of physical or emotional abuse of children, whether they are from under privileged or privileged families. My objection is to the fact that we want to ignore the existence of child labor but make a hue and cry because somebody had to do house-hold chores. In North America we clean our toilets and pick up doggy poo as a routine part of daily life and believe in dignity of labor. The very concept of using feudalistic terms like 'working like a maid' appals me. Dignity of labor is North American culture and I would think learning this concept (amongst other things) is what a cultural exchange is about. Also eating omelettes and fixing your own dinner is not the end of the world.
I did not see anybody ignoring the child labour issues in India - it does exist. But I was surprised to read your post where you compare Nikita's incidence to hue and cry!
If someone does a house cleaning job, there is nothing wrong in it. But that's not she was there for. If she was asked to do her own laundry, nothing wrong in it. But cleaning the barn? Unacceptable.. Feeding eggs everyday to your guest and asking him/her to fix your own dinner IS UNFAIR! Moreover, Missing dr's appt when your guest (who is a minor and who is your responsibility) is sick, is CRUEL.
"Ryan said teaching you amounted to teaching a dog," that's also culture and a good exchange. Dignity of labour and racism/ disrespectful are two different worlds. I don't think she would have minded any extra work or anything if shown a little respect/welcome in the home. See it from a parent perspective, from a safe family environment of her own home she was in a domestic violent home. Eating omelette is no end of the world I agree but unwanted, uncomfortable, being insulted is.
