On 27th November 2005, the WHEELS group organized a car and bike rally in Hyderabad to highlight the issue of child labour in India. The rally started at Necklace road, and terminated at the Ashirwad child rehabilitation camp in Kukatpally in Hyderabad.

Although the government has passed laws banning the use of child labour, children still continue to be employed in various industries and domestic households. One of the main reasons for the prevalence of child labour is the apathy of the general public towards this issue. For example, many people do not find anything wrong in employing a child to do their domestic chores. They feel they are helping out the child by employing him and allowing him to earn something. However, the child is losing out on earning a good education, and thus has no chance of moving up the economic ladder. Although the employers had good intentions, they are not acting in the best interests of the children.

Other employers, usually owners of factories, employ children purely for economic reasons. Children can be paid less than adults; they cant threaten their employers with strikes, and they can be maid to work for longer hours. These type of employers are undeterred by statutory laws, and clearly something more needs to be done perhaps we need to turn towards the deterrent of economic boycott. If people can be convinced not to use products made by companies who use child-labourers, then it would deal an economic blow to these employers.

Thus the need of the hour is to sensitize the general public about the issue of child labour. Once people start caring about the plight of child-labourers, they will perhaps start taking active steps either by talking to others about the issue, through economic boycott of goods produced by child-labour employing companies, or through some other act. This was the intended goal of WHEELS rally to sensitize the general public about child labour.

Although a rally is a nice way to draw attention of the general public, its effect is only for the duration of the rally. Since we wanted our message to keep going across even after the rally was over, we decided to print some anti-child labour T-shirts. The intent was to wear these T-shirts in public places such as malls, cinema halls so that others could see the message, and hopefully be influenced enough to support the cause of anti-child labour.

The next big challenge for the WHEELS group was deciding what message should be printed on the T-shirts. After lots of brainstorming sessions and some research, we zeroed onto a lovely cartoon drawn by Seppo Leinonen, a cartoonist from Finland. We obtained permission from him to re-print his cartoon on the T-shirts and soon we had placed orders for the first batch of T-shirts. The selling price of each T-shirt was fixed at Rs 200, which would allow us to raise Rs 20 for each T-shirt we sold. The money raised would be used to buy cricket and football equipment for the kids.

Once the shirts were ready, the next task was to sell the T-shirts to people who wanted to join our cause. The WHEELS members organized an intra-company sale during lunch hour, and also reached out to their friends in other companies. The enthusiasm of the WHEELS members ensured that most of the T-shirts were sold.

The rally day finally dawned on November 27th. Coincidentally, the Hyderabad Half-marathon and 10k run was being held on the same day. This event was from 6.30AM to 10AM, and thus would not clash with the rally. In fact, many WHEELS members participated in the 10k run, wearing the Stop Child Labour T-shirts and then headed over for the rally flag-off point! What enthusiasm and stamina!

The volunteers for the rally started assembling near the flag-off point by 11AM. The children from Ashirwad rehabilation camp had also come to join the rally, and their enthusiasm also rubbed onto us. After pinning up the vehicles with anti child labour banners, we started off towards the Ashirwad camp. When we reached the camp, we were given a warm welcome by the kids and the Ashirwad authorities. We spent a few hours interacting with the kids and getting to know more about their dreams and aspirations. We were treated to a lovely dance performance by an aspiring choreographer, kata demonstrations (karate exercise) by two winners of a karate championship, and lots of enthusiastic smiles and handshakes. The Ashirwad authorities also gave us a tour of the camp, and we had a look at the classrooms and the sleeping quarters of the children. It was a humbling experience to see how the children lived and studied under cramped conditions. All this makes their achievements even more commendable.

Soon it was time for us to leave, and as we made our way towards our cars, we were surrounded by scores of smiling kids who wanted to shake our hands. We could not raise a lot of funds, nor could we get any media attention for the Ashirwad camp, but at least for a few hours we made the kids feel important and loved. Probably thats all these kids require a few words of kindness and a gentle pat of encouragement.

Donations can be in the form of Cheque/Draft made in favour of "CHORD" and sent to the following address:

CHORD

#309, Janapriya Pramila villa,

6-3-1218/2,3,4, Umanagar, Begumpet,

Hyderabad-500016.

A.P. INDIA.

Phone:91-40-30906595,Mobile: 91-9848198088

www.chordindia.org

E-mail: info@chordindia.org, suman@chordindia.org

You can also donate online at http://www.chordindia.org/sponsorship.asp

All donations to CHORD are exempted from Income Tax under section 80G (In India only).

Thanks To Siddarth and Ketan for beautiful article and Shivank for pictures.

End Part I

Part II

5th Feb 2006, we visited Ashirwad for interacting with the children. The purpose of the trip was to show solidarity with people & cause and hand over the raised funds. Other than WHEELS lot of people joined from Oracle. They helped Ashirwad in a big way and offered a continued support.We reached there in the evening at around 4pm and all the new visitors were taken around to look at the facilities, and then were treated to some amazing dance and karate performances.

Then we went ahead as planned with the cricket match and no words can describe feeling of happiness we got from the game. The beaming smile on the face of the kids even under difficult circumstances can be enough motivation for anyone to look at life from a positive perspective. To add to the fun we got invited to Kho-Kho after the cricket match. We finally ended the day singing some telugu and hindi songs.

As donations we were able to collect about INR 100K (across companies and oceans), which we handed over to Dr.Suman who runs the organization. We would like to thank everyone for their generous contribution. The contribution cannot satisfy their entire needs but we sure did make a difference. Also thanks to everyone who turned up and helped bring a smile on the face of the kids.

We would continue with our efforts to help the kids with volunteer programs and look forward to everyones continued support.

Pallav took nice pics just see kids beaming with happiness.

End Part II

WHEELS was born on 1st August 2005 when five people decided to do a bike trip on world peace day to Medak. Trekking, Biking, Hiking, Running, Going places, volunteering and Uno are the primary interests of this group, but we also indulge in all kinds of sports. Do note that Trekking, Biking, Hiking, Running, Going places,volunteering and Uno are not sports - they are a way of life. All volunteering opportunities are welcome, particularly those that help the underprivileged. Wheels is based at Hyderabad, India To join Wheels go to link http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hyd_wheels/ Wheels are not official events organised by any statutory body; those participating are doing so at their sole discretion.