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Child labourers have a day off - joining the celebrations to perform under the World Vision banner in Dhaka
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Huge crowds of people gathered in the streets of Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka to welcome the Bengali New Year, Pohela Boishak, on April 14.
One of the highlights of the festivity was a parade stretching over a kilometer, with banners, dancers and colourful displays.
For 12-year-old Mohammad, taking part in the parade was a very different experience from his normal life. Usually he spends his afternoons collecting scraps from rubbish piles. His friend Khadiza makes paper bags and walks from shop to shop to sell them.
But that day, the children were performing cultural dance they’d learned at World Vision’s Drop-in Centre for Street Children, on the back of a truck that propelled them slowly through the delighted crowds.
Project Manager Lutfe Tahera organized the truck and loudspeakers for the music, and practiced with her talented group of 20 children. “Our presence and performance under a colourful banner attracted thousands of people,” she said.
Tahera said: “These children usually work in roadside restaurants, collect rags or waste papers to recycle, wrap chocolates or sell vegetables.”
This was not the first time the children have performed in public. At the Drop-in Centre, as well as attending classes, they sometimes prepare and perform street dramas, songs and roleplaying to build awareness of the issues they and other street children face. Their last major appearance was in the National Monument square and National Parliament to celebrate Bangladesh Independence Day (March 26).
“This was a great opportunity to express the talents of the down trodden children,” said Tahera. “Just after the performance in the park, one renowned media personality invited the children to perform on national TV.”
For Tahera, this is proof that the children have great potential if given the right opportunities.
The children enjoyed it too. After the performance, the truck kept going and took them to a picnic spot where they had lunch and talked excitedly about their achievement.
Trinath, 13, works most days wrapping chocolates by hand. He said: “I felt good to go on the truck around the colorful city and do our performance for the entertainment of so many people.”
There are currently over 600 children involved with the Bangladesh Drop-in Centre in Dhaka. They take part in non-formal education, life skills training including rights, peer pressures and leadership techniques, and creative programs such as drama, dance and drawing.
More about World Vision in Bangladesh
