- Hi, my name is Manju. I am 9 years old. I am a part of Chintan’s ‘No Child in Trash’ Program that aims to provide every wastepicker child education
There are many others like me who are covered by the program. Across all locations and classes, it reaches out to a thousand children.
Out of the thousand children, more than six hundred of them are girls.
Chintan organizes afternoon classes to prepare us for the transition into a bigger government run school.
Classes are held in Seemapuri, Gazipur, Nizamuddin and R.K Puram areas of Delhi.
Different classes are held for different age groups, from as young as four to as old as fifteen.
We enjoy our classes.
Before I started going to school, this is where I would work- the landfill.
I would go to the landfill with my parents and work from dawn till dusk.
At the landfill, I would segregate the recyclable waste from the non-recyclable waste. The recyclable waste would then be sold to scrap dealers.
Some of the waste we would segregate was toxic which could make us sick.
Wastepicking was hard work. Sometimes I would work the whole day and only earn Rs. 50.
I am glad that my friends and I now attend the government run school thanks to Chintan and...
...we look forward to a life outside trash.
