Sometimes you watch a documentary because you find the subject matter close to your heart and end up thinking of other things that tend to make you realize the hopelessness of the situation. I was watching ITV’s documentary India Slumkid Reporters that shows an extraordinary group of children in Delhi who run their own newspaper talking about the problems faced by street children.Watching the documentary broke my heart – you get to hear both sides of the story, from a 15 year old boy who explains that he works 13 hours a day cutting chicken and that he can’t sleep at night because of the type of work he does, to the other side of on how would the under 18’s be able to support their families if the new child labour laws are introduced.
For me I guess the turning point where I felt it explained the apathy in India was when a police inspector first talks about how policemen in India don’t take a bribe and then when the reporter asks about the rumors of street children being beaten, says “In India the police do not commit atrocities against children, there is not a single province where children are treated badly”. The sheer ignorance and combined BS of that statement just showed me how things are not going to change until the people in charge actually believe that there is a problem in todays society.
We all have time for our own things in life, take just 25 minutes out from your schedule and watch about the street kids in India who seem to be invisible to us all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIXj9gBwxBw
