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Creative
cards for Christmas As a part of
its public awareness and fund-raising programmes, an annual Christmas
card project is conducted by the school from which all proceeds
go into educating, rehabilitating and uplifting the quality of life
of these children, most of whom come from extremely poor families.
Each card is a reproduction of an original drawing done by a child
with special needs, at the Chitra Lane School. Over the years,
the quality has improved to a point that this has become their main
fund-raising project for the year. Every card they sell adds that
little bit more to what the school and the resource centre can provide
for these children. They also provide due recognition and encouragement
to the young artists whose talents and abilities are generally overshadowed
by their disability. The public could lend them a helping hand by
buying a few of these cards, in the spirit of caring, sharing and
most importantly in the spirit of Christmas. Cards can be
purchased at the Children's Resource Centre, 45/3, Chitra Lane,
Colombo 03 or at all Keells outlets. Summit
on child domestic workers Since its inception
in 1991, the functions of the SLIMG, a non-profit organisation,
have been aimed at changing attitudes and behaviour of the public,
by educating them through their interactive activities. Their attention
is focused on the complete development of the child, while they
deal with issues such as poverty, drug addiction, HIV/AIDS, child
rights and environmental pollution. A number of
key issues were addressed at the summit, which was organised and
chaired by child representatives themselves. Prof. Harendra
de Silva said, "The first reported case of child abuse during
domestic service took place about 10 years ago, and when brought
to hospital, there were about 300 marks on the child's body. The
child had been burnt, whipped with a wire and even some bones were
damaged." When summoned and questioned, the employer had given
various contradictory statements as to where she got the child from.
"But children seldom lie," he said. Another issue
dealt with was the factor of mental abuse, which these children
are subjected to. A great amount of mental trauma and abuse is experienced
by them in the form of discrimination, specially in comparison to
the children of the employer. Explained Prof.
de Silva, "When two children of the same age are treated in
such contrasting ways, there is obviously a huge impact on the one
who is being discriminated. While the employer's child is treated
with the utmost care, given the best food, spoken to in the kindest
of ways and given the best medical treatment, the child employed
for domestic service is treated in a different way. All this would
have a tremendous impact on a young mind." The next issue
to be dealt with was sexual abuse. "Not just
young girls, but even boys are extremely vulnerable to this type
of abuse. It takes place because they have no one to protect them
and they are at the complete mercy of their employers," he
said. The Sri Lanka
Interactive Media Group - Colombo, has prepared a document containing
new proposals regarding child domestic workers. A copy of the document
was handed over to the President on October 1, in commemoration
of World Children's Day. According to
the organisation, the main culprits are the agents who bring the
children from their parents and hand them over to the employers.
They propose that this third party should be dealt with, in a stricter
method. Another proposal
made by SLIMG - Colombo, is that domestic service should be made
a profession. This would mean that it would contain all the features
existent in other accepted professions. It would give individuals
employed and trained in domestic service, even foreign exposure
later on. The first National
Summit in Sri Lanka on Child Domestic Workers, was aimed at dealing
with the effects domestic service has on the child, security of
the child, the child's development and social discrimination. The
basic theme of the summit was that domestic employment of children
is a dream-selling practice. |
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