Kalamaki (slavery system) in Nepal
Even though one is aware of many things going on around the world, still it is difficult to perceive the fact that slavery exists in some parts of the world. The reasons for such an archaic and inhuman system are usually connected to poverty, at least this is what we hear from people involved in this injustice.
Today on a TV show I learned about the so-called "Kalamari tradition". This is a phenomenon occurring in the Tharu community in Nepal, where families sell their daughters usually starting at the age of 5, to wealthy families. These young girls are then forced to work for these families whereas their fathers get the money from their work on a monthly basis. Basically what these girls do their entire time there is working, working, working, they dont get the chance to ever see the doors of a school or have access to a sufficient health care, this is a thing that they could only dream of.
A kalamari girl, aged 17 was reporting that her family sent her away when she was only 6 years old, 11 years after working and living for unknown people she turned back to her family and against all odds she was trying to come closer to her family members and especially her mom. Looks pretty much so as she had already apologized her family for doing such a macabre action. She asked her brother, who was the last person she saw before leaving her family for good at the age of 6, why they sold her. His answer was, the family didnt have anything to offer to her, they couldnt even buy clothes for her whereas most of her friends had nice clothes on.
The many questions that crossed my mind in these moments where all why questions. On the one side I tried to put myself in the position of her family (didnt think of widening the circle and show comprehension for all other families that do such a thing) and even thought for a moment that they didnt have many other alternatives left. But no, this isnt the right approach when considering these cases, how can we preach in our modern days with our modern technologies for human rights as being one of our most sacred principles when speaking about a healthy society and even so accept the fact that outside of our houses exist societies that still are remote from adequate living standards in many ways? Is it even possible to believe that global values such as social justice and world peace can be attained with such unheard inequalities?
I definitely respect the work of many people trying their best to ameliorate the situation of people in vulnerable societies and struggling for an alignment of living conditions with developed countries, but fact is that governments, especially those with declared democratic values, need to get more involved in actions against violations of human rights and address egregious violations such as slavery on a systematic basis. Child labor should be stopped and children rights ought to be respected at all costs, since we cant speak of healthy societies without children with a healthy childhood.