Creating new horizons
Toby Porter is raising money for Save the Children
Participants: Toby Porter
Story
I would like to tell you a little bit about this remarkable child in the photograph, Firoza Khatun. I am running the Delhi half marathon on November 1st, in the hope of raising enough funds to allow Firoza to pursue a course in professional photography, a subject for which she has shown real enthusiasm and aptitude. Firoza's photograph and story are used with her knowledge & consent.
Firoza is fifteen years old, and lives with her family in Kolkata. She is now back at school, and doing very well there, having been rescued by Save the Children from one of the most prevalent and pernicious forms of child labour in India, child domestic work.
Firoza left school and took a position as a domestic worker at the age of 10. For a monthly salary of just under five pounds, she lived with and worked for a middle class family in Kolkata. She usually worked 12 to 14 hour days, seven days a week, for several years. Her chores included cooking, dusting, cleaning floors, fetching water, washing clothes, grinding, polishing shoes etc. She says she often felt sad, remembering her parents and neighborhood friends, and missing school; but she understood and accepted that her parents had no other alternative but to send her to work. At that time Right Track, a Save the Children partner in Kolkata, identified Firoza and contacted her parents and employers, using well-established procedures to help the child. Within a few weeks, Firoza was back living with her family, re-enrolled into formal school and had left her work as a child domestic worker. Presently she is in class IX, doing very well at school, and seriously studying hard for her examinations.
Firoza has shown a marked enjoyment and talent for photography, initially in courses she attended with other former domestic workers. She took many of the photos for an exhibition, Eye-to-Eye, arranged by Save the Children, which was shown in Kolkata, Delhi and even London. Firoza would like now to build a career as a professional photographer, an entirely feasible proposition if she can get the necessary qualification and training.
We have identified a one year course in Kolkata suitable for Firoza. 100% of the funds raised on this Justgiving page will be transferred to Save the Children’s Kolkata office, and held in trust to pay for her course. Not a single rupee will go on administration, either in the UK or in India. In addition, Debora and I will be using our contacts in the photography world in the UK to try and obtain some excellent second-hand cameras and other equipment for her.
Please give what you can, and lets try & create a new horizon for this talented, life-loving and extraordinarily resilient child. Thank you