attempt: coursework 1 - coming up with the theme

I have always want to explore the concept of underprivileged children as i have seen so many scenes of children suffering from various miseries and the heart-wrenching feeling those scenes arouses inside me always pushes me into wanting to do something.

So i want to make the theme of my coursework-underpriviledged children. After contemplating about the reason why i feel so sympathetic towards the children, i find that it is the unfair suffering they encouter despite them being precious gifts of life just like us.

I think it would be interesting to explore the contrast of precious new-born baby with underpriviledged children, thus i started my research.

First some same quotes about preciousness of children :

I brought children into this dark world because it needed the light that only a child can bring.

--Liz Armbruster, on robertbrault.com

"No gift bestowed upon us is so precious as children. They are proof that God still loves us. They are the hope of the future."

-- James E. Faust (Ensign, May 1987, p. 80.)

"Children are the hands by which we take hold of heaven."

-- Henry Ward Beecher, reverend and social activist

"Every child you encounter is a divine appointment."

-- Wess Stafford, President, Compassion International

Then some heart-wrenchind stories:

Abandoned babies

By Dr Karen Healy

Posted Wed Jun 20, 2007 7:41am AEST

Baby Joan captured national attention when she was left on the doorstep of a Sydney church (AAP: James Alcock/Pool)

In the past six weeks, two cases of abandoned babies have caught the media spotlight in Australia.

The case of baby Catherine, left outside Dandenong hospital in Victoria in May and more recently, baby Joan, left on the doorstep of a Sydney church, have captured public interest and concern.

The media and public commentary has focused on the question of "why would a mother abandon a newborn?" and for some, the question of "how could she?"

When we consider the recent cases of baby abandonment reported in the media, we can find some clues about the motivations of the mothers in these cases.

The manner of abandonment tells us that they cared very much about their babies. In each case, the baby was left in a situation where they were likely to be found in a short amount of time by people who were able to look after the baby.

In Victoria, the baby was left outside a maternity hospital, in Sydney the baby was left on a church step. In a third case, of an abandoned baby found in a Gold Coast hotel toilet block in March of this year, it was reported that the baby was "wearing a clean nappy and was wrapped in towels inside a black 'cotton on' environ bag".

So, if these mothers care, why would they abandon their babies?

Explanations

Two explanations are apparent. The first is that the pregnancy itself is associated with secrecy and shame.

The case of the young Irish woman who abandoned her baby in Gold Coast toilet block is a case in point. Media reports suggest that the 21-year-old woman had left her home in a rural township in Ireland, five months before giving birth. Her family was unaware of the pregnancy and the young woman continued to deny she was pregnant during her stay in Australia.

These factors made it impossible for the young woman to make the transition to parenthood. There are a range of other reasons why a parent may experience stigma about a pregnancy, such as family or community condemnation of the woman's partner or the circumstance of her pregnancy.

The mother's own desperate circumstances can provide another reason for abandoning her child.

Certainly, the situation of baby Joan suggests the mother was in a very difficult situation. Newspaper reports state the "umbilical cord of the child was not tied off", suggesting that mother did not have assistance with the birth. The mother's desperation may have any number of sources, such as mental illness, drug addiction, poverty or homelessness.

While I do not envisage that we will witness a "spate" of baby abandonment, it is true that there are increased stresses on vulnerable families and some of these might lead to increased risk of child abuse and neglect, if not baby abandonment.

In particular, rising private housing costs accompanied by decline in public housing stock are likely to put increased pressure on vulnerable families.

The increasing rate of harmful use of illicit drugs, particularly methamphetamines, is likely to contribute to increased risks for children in vulnerable families.

The cases I have discussed are, of course, quite different from situations where a parent abandons the child in a way that is likely to lead to the injury or death of the child. The motivations and intentions of parents involved in horrific cases of children being abandoned in garbage bins and dumps, often dead before they are discarded, must be understood differently to the recent cases of baby abandonment discussed in the media.

2.Amputated children:

"We want to study and learn, not beg on the streets. During the worldwide march I learnt that I, too, am a real person. Now I want to become an engineer."
Basu, 11,
--a Nepalese street child, Thailand, 14 February,1998.

The real Slumdog Millionaires: Behind the cinema fantasy, mafia gangs are deliberately crippling children for profit

Posted by: jisha in Untagged on Apr 8, 2009

Alone and afraid, Aamir was initially grateful when a ‘kind’ older couple befriended him on his arrival in Mumbai. This chaotic urban sprawl is now India’s largest city and home to more than 20 million people.

More than nine million of them live in slums, raising families in shacks built from rubbish on top of open sewers. For a homeless 12-year-old child freshly arrived from the countryside, it is a terrifying place to be.

Overcrowding is now so bad in this huge metropolis that shanty towns have even sprung up in the international airport. People in rags scavenge as giant jets thunder past just feet away. But for many on the Indian sub-continent, Mumbai will always bethe city of dreams — a place of Bollywood film stars and gold-paved streets. It was certainly the image that brought Aamir here.

Fleeing a violent, drunken father in rural India — his motherhad died years before — the12-year-old had sneaked on to a train bound for the city. And when he got there, he hoped to make his fortune. It was not to be. Alighting at Victoria Station, the city’s main terminal and an architectural monument to the days of the British Raj, Aamir was penniless and bewildered. He started begging for food. Within minutes, a couple emerged from the crowd and approached him.

They gave him cakes and said they’d take him away to start a better life. ‘I thought they were may be social workers or religious people,’ he told me. But Aamir’s food was drugged and when he became drowsy, the couple put him in a rickshaw and took him to the city’s municipal hospital, which is where the real nightmare began.

Crippled: A child begging on Marine Drive in south Mumbai

For at the hospital, a doctor was paid to amputate one of his healthy legs. Now speaking in the third person, as if to pretend it didn’t happen to him, Aamir tells me ‘the child’ was in ‘great pain’ after the operation. ‘The leg is removed here,’ he says, pointing to his own stump and grimacing. His limb had been severed mid-calf, leaving him without a foot.

Now in hiding after being rescued from the hospital by a charity, Aamir is one of hundreds of Indian children deliberately crippled by gangs so they can earn extra money begging. He still struggles to talk about his experience. Asked to describe what he thinks about those who ruined his life,he just stares at the ground in silence. Crippled for life, he is now the lowest of the low.

Dalbeer, 15, is another victim of this shocking industry. Reduced to begging at the railway station after his parents died, Dalbeer was approached by two friendly older strangers one day. ‘I thought they were may be social workers,’ he told me. ‘I thought they could help me.’ But he was taken from everything he knew to Nagpur, a city athousand miles from Mumbai, after the woman told him it would ‘be better there’. And there, along with several others, he was deliberately crippled before being brought back to Mumbai and put to work begging. His leg had been severed in the same place as Aamir’s.

3. child labour:

"Child labour must not become the nation's social safety net."
--Kailash Satyarthi,
International Coordinator of the Global March, Thailand, 14 February,1998.

In Northern India the exploitation of little children for labor is an accepted practice and perceived by the local population as a necessity to alleviate poverty. Carpet weaving industries pay very low wages to child laborers and make them work for long hours in unhygienic conditions. Children working in such units are mainly migrant workers from Northern India, who are shunted here by their families to earn some money and send it to them. Their families dependence on their income, forces them to endure the onerous work conditions in the carpet factories.The situation of child laborers in India is desperate. Children work for eight hours at a stretch with only a small break for meals. The meals are also frugal and the children are ill nourished. Most of the migrant children who cannot go home, sleep at their work place, which is very bad for their health and development. Seventy five percent of Indian population still resides in rural areas and are very poor. Children in rural families who are ailing with poverty perceive their children as an income generating resource to supplement the family income. Parents sacrifice their children’s education to the growing needs of their younger siblings in such families and view them as wage earners for the entire clan.

Child Labor in China

China’s child labor is a huge problem, and there is clear evidence that child labor is increasing in China. Although there is no official figure on the number of children working in China, it is estimated by many that of the 10 million children out of school, over 5 million are working in factories. There are some who even consider this a conservative estimate. It was reported in Sichuan, China’s most populated province, that 85% of children who drop out of school are working elsewhere. Even in some less populated rural provinces, over 20% of the work force is made up of children. Also, in the last few years, the rate of children kidnapped has increased rapidly. It is believed that the children kidnapped are sold off to factories to work. For example, in 1994, about 48 Chinese brick-shop-workers kidnapped over 100 children. It is known that fourty of those children were forced to work 10 hours a day, but with no wage whatsoever. China’s child labor cannot be overlooked.

Child Labor in Russia

Russia’s laws for childhood employment are very specific. The Labor Code prohibits employment of any children under the age of 16. Any positions that would require an employee to work nights or overtime cannot be filled by anybody under the age of 18. Under certain specific conditions with parental approval, a child may work as soon as age 14. Forced or bonded labor by children is prohibited. Many children are involved in illegal drug sales. In some places, children will be given drugs so that they will follow any directions they are given.&nb! sp; Some children are forced to work more hours than the legal limit.

Child Labor in Indonesia

Child labor in Indonesia is a problem that is continually growing. Many children work on jermals. Jermals are large fishing boats. Most of the workers on the boats are children. Few are adults. Some of the children work in the fish factories a few miles from the shore of Indonesia. The tasks involved include catching, sorting, and boiling fish. During the twelve hours a day that most of the workers work through, they haul gigantic nets onto the boat. The work is torturous.

The working conditions are terrible. Not only are their daytime hours tough, but also they sleep in rusty and dirty shacks. The workplace is filthy, dangerous, and filled with the stench of fish. Some people’s fingernails fall off. Some suffer from stings attained from jellyfish or sea snakes caught in the nets. Many workers get injured, but the only relief they get is from aspirin and bandages. Although the workers labor for twelve hours a day, in one month, they may be paid a meager nine dollars. Working on a jermals is difficult and often painful.

4.Children’s Miserable Life in Poorest Nations

Many children are living a miserable life in poorest countries. Living conditions are deteriorating at an alarming rate. Many find it hard to access to enough food, clean water, and medical care. Furthermore, they suffer from diseases like malaria or HIV/AIDS and physical abuse.

Maissara Chaharmane, the head of the Domoni Therapeutic Nutrition Centre, said that malnutrition in Union of the Comoros is mostly due to lack of knowledge. Over 42% of Comorian children from five years old downward suffer from chronic malnutrition. Just one small percentage of babies is breastfed. Comoros is one of the world’s poorest countries. Its real GDP expansion was low, 1.9% in 2004.

Malaria causes more deaths annually in Niger. 50% deaths among children under five are caused by malaria. This landlocked country in Western Africa has the lowest Human Development Index on Earth. Famine struck the Sahel from June to August 2010. 350,000 faced starvation and 1,200,000 were at risk of famine

Zimbabwe introduced a new Z$100 trillion banknote in January 2009 due to its runaway inflation. Along with widespread poverty and HIV/AIDS, this landlocked country faces high unemployment, political violence, and a heavily lacking infrastructure. The children of Zimbabwe have fallen through the cracks from colonialism and civil war.

Conditions for children in Somalia are deteriorating at an alarming rate. The numbers of malnourished children are growing as a result of crop failures, severe drought, hyperinflation, and rising food prices. Displaced children can not access to enough clean water, food, and medical care. Children are vulnerable to exploitation and physical abuse.

Republic of Liberia is one of the ten poorest nations across the globe. Its external debt surpasses its GDP. This country suffers from poor economic performance with decline in the export of commodities and the flight of many investors and lack of infrastructure.

Median life expectancy in Guinea-Bissau is around 47 years. This country face many big problems including steadily increasing HIV/AIDS with 10% of adults infected. In addition, the infant mortality rate of this West Africa nation is very high, around 108.72 per 1000 new-born babies. Along with Human Development Index, its GDP per capita is one of the lowest in the world. Over two-thirds of the population lives below the poverty line.

Finally pictures of the children: