“If a child grows up with the idea that Mom and Dad are her only community, then when she has a problem, if the parents cannot fix it, she doesn’t have anybody else to turn to.” Sobunfu Some |
A large proportion of girls from poor rural areas become little maids, petites bonnes, working as domestic servants for families in the cities. For many families struck by such extreme poverty this is the lesser of the two evils. They can either send their daughters out to work or send them to the cities to good homes where they are treated well and given opportunities that they would not have otherwise had. These girls are the fortunate ones.
However, what is disturbing are the numbers of girls out of an estimated one million, 25% who are under the age of ten, that are not from the fortunate ones. Young girls who have to work ridiculously long hours, with no breaks or rests, receiving very little pay, denied of any sort of access to education or medical care, and only seeing their families once or twice a year, if that. |
Of the worse off are those who are victims of rampant psychological and physical abuse. It is not surprising that many of these young girls become runaway child maids who turn to the streets as they have no where else to go. Police found the 10 year old child huddled on a dusty curb... Read more...
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