Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Nov 18: Kanaka V spent major portion of her childhood working as a child labourer. Now 17, she will address the Parliament and speak about child rights on November 20 on the occasion of Universal Children’s Day.

Kanaka is among 30 children selected from across the world and one among only four from India who have been selected to deliver speeches at an event organised by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF). She underwent three rounds of audition and is the only one to be selected from Karnataka.

Born in a slum in Bengaluru, Kanaka’s mother was the sole bread-winner of the family as her father was disabled. Though struggling to make ends meet, she was adamant that Kanaka goes to school. Sadly, Kanaka’s dreams were cut short when her mother was diagnosed with cancer. She was studying class IV at that time and had to drop out to earn for the family. She worked in three houses as a maid.

After her mother’s death, she and her sister were sent to live with relatives who abused them physically, mentally and emotionally.

In 2011, Volunteers of Sparsha, an NGO that fights against child labour, spotted Kanaka working in a wedding hall and rescued her and her sister Kavya and brought them to a shelter home in Hesaraghatta.

She made the best of her rescue and joined back studies. She was admitted to class VI. She scored 80 per cent in her Class 10 board exams and is currently pursuing her PU first year from BGS college in Hesaraghatta. Kanaka is now determined to focus on her academics and become a scientist one day.

In her speech in the Parliament, she plans to stress that in spite of several laws protecting child rights, they are not enforced effectively. “There are thousands of children like me who have faced various kinds of abuses. Children in urban areas at least have people they can approach. But, there are children like me who suffer in slums and rural areas. I will make the best use of this opportunity, to bring awareness on child labour, begging and child abuse,” she says.