THEY have travelled long distances to be here—miles from their villages and the carpet looms. Where they worked long hours, eight hours daily, all week and then put thumb impressions on work charts that paid them for only two hours.
Every child from the four villages of eastern UP, Lali, Karsota, Imlipokhar and Baroundhi in Sonbhadra district, go to school today. "About five years ago a boy protested and got severely beaten up. That's when I realised how important it was to get the children educated and out of these hellholes," says Abhushan Bhram Shah alias Raja Sahib, a local landlord who then launched the Children's Welfare Society, that has taken upon itself to letter the region.
It started with Raja Sahib's benevolence: giving out loans and small pieces of land to some villagers so that they could afford to have their children out of the looms. He joined forces with CRY for the project.
But now every villager is involved and insists that the panchayat monitors the performance of every school. The mudhut which houses the school in Lali, in fact, was built by the villagers. The poor donated labour, the affluent money and material.
And as students pour in for the evening classes, the lantern needs to be pumped up again. But nobody minds.
