Young Japanese woman fighting child labour

Bangalore, June 18: When women of her age were pursuing career goals in multinational companies and looking for prospective partners, Mioi Nakyami from Japan has dedicated herself for eradication of child labour in India.

Born in Hiroshima, 24-year-old Mioi Nakyami had always wanted to engage in social work and strive for the welfare of children of a lesser god.

She landed in India three and a half years ago immediately after completing her graduation on learning that child labour had become a grave problem in this country and of the 246 million child labourers across the world, India alone accounted for 124 million.

Talking to UNI, Ms Nakyami said ''it was mindboggling to know that over 50 per cent of the total number of child labourers in the would were found in India. I wanted to fight against this menace and bring back the smile on the lips of these children.'' In India, she associated herself with the Barn Art School International (BASI), a special institution set up exclusively for rehabilitation of orphaned street children and freed child labourers.

She said the School, which received grants from the Karnataka government, used these rehabilitated children in the campaign against child labour by making them share their experiences with the affected lot. Besides, it also imparted artistic skills like painting, photography, music, theatre, contemporary dance, film making and videography to groom them into professionals, she added.

Ms Nakyami, an amateur photographer herself, said that to begin with BASI had conceived an one-year course in photography. Once a student started showing interest in the profession, he was sent for higher studies either at BASI or placed in a specialised educational institution.

Ms Nakyami said BASI also recently organised a History Expedition for its inmates to record the history of child labour and the working condition in Karnataka. The inmates were taken to the length and breadth of the state to visually and empirically document the travails and tribulations of child labourers so as to raise the knowledge, awareness and information about the status of child labour in order to fight against it.

Terming the expedition as most successful, she said the inmates at BASI toured every nook and corner of the state and documented the details of over 25,000 children, both girls and boys, employed in various places, including mines, homes, garrages, brick kilns, hotels, cinemas, abbattoirs, road works, farms and rice units. The expedition helped in uncovering the vast problem of child labour prevailing in the state.

Stating that the child labour menace was a major burden to the nation's economy, Ms Nakyami said if was not tackled, it would become impossible to tame it in future. Though the government and NGOs were trying to address the problem, it was not enough. Every Indian citizen should strive to eradicate child labour.

She said employing children for work and robbing them off their rightful access to education, free childhood and right atmosphere was not only against the spirit of the Indian Constitution, but also national interest.

Ms Nakyami, who speaks Kannada fluently, said she had interacted with several street children and child labourers. ''Interacting with children in their mother tongue will not only help to understand each other better, but also build a lasting relationship,'' she explained.

UNI