| True Story of Laxmi Shrestha |
In 1997, RugMark inspectors found 6-year-old Laxmi Shrestha working in a Nepali carpet factory. She told her rescuers she had to work to survive: Her family had migrated from their village to Kathmandu after a landslide wiped out their home. Her mother, who usually worked the looms, was ill. Her father – a laborer who squandered his small earnings on alcohol – was seldom home. When he was, he abused his wife and children. Illiterate at the time of her rescue, Laxmi became an eager student. With aid from RugMark, she quickly progressed in her studies and by the time Robin Romano took her picture in 2000, she was in fourth grade. As a symbol of the many children who work illegally in Nepal, Laxmi gave a face to the plight of South Asian children when a poster with her image appeared in showrooms and stores across North America. Today, at 16, Laxmi is enrolled in university at one of Nepal’s top institutions. This is a tremendous feat considering a decade ago she was a ‘carpet kid.’ |
After a landslide destroyed Laxmi Shrestha’s home, the 6-year-old went to work in a carpet factory in Nepal. Today, thanks to RugMark she is an eager and accomplished student who plans to become a social worker.Please note that I am not an expert in any way on the topic of child labor. But, as I dig deeper, I personally feel more and more convicted to know the background of how the product I am buying came into existance. During the trans-atlantic slave trade, many British abolitionists boycotted sugar because it was produced by slaves. (A noteable step due to the importance of a sugar lump or two in their afternoon tea!) So, what does that mean for me today?
I presume that I fail in this area about everyday. From what I buy here in America, to what I bought in the markets around the world…Cheaper doesn’t always mean ‘morally better’. This is not meant to take us all on a guilt trip, but to open our eyes to daily realities some kids like Laxmi face everyday of their lives.
To learn more about this topic, plese check out The RugMark Foundation. RugMark is the international nonprofit organization devoted to building schools, programs and opportunities that give children back their childhoods by ending child labor in the handmade carpet industry in South Asia.
Click here to read an article about Child Labor in India that was just published in Forbes magazine in February.
Click here to watch a short video on ‘Child Labor Exposed: India, US’.
Click here for a slideshow of pictures titled ‘Broken Dreams’.
