Children as young as six pick through mountains of trash in Kolkata for three dollars a day. Tiljala SHED has spent thirty nine years pulling rag picker families out of that cycle, one child and one classroom at a time.
In this episode of The William Hocking Podcast, William Hocking sits down with Shafkat Alam, Joint Secretary of Tiljala SHED, and his own son Connor Hocking, who took ten days of personal leave to fly to Kolkata in February and see the work firsthand.
Shafkat's father founded Tiljala SHED in 1987. He was the first law graduate from the Tiljala slums and became a primary school teacher after watching children pick trash beside their parents. His first grant came from the Trickle Up Foundation in New York, with one condition for the families: send your child to school.
Connor talks about the family he interviewed where the 14 year old looked 10 from malnourishment and the mother, who thought she was 31, looked closer to 40. Shafkat explains why the rag picker community is socially ostracized even by other slum residents, why the average marriage age for girls in these communities has moved from 12 to 19, and what 35,000 families served and 22,000 children in school looks like on the ground.
Tune in to hear why Shafkat's father said he started this work for selfish reasons, and why Connor came home from Kolkata changed.
Chapters:
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00:01 Meet an organization helping the poorest of the poor in Kolkata
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02:55 Why Connor took 10 days of personal leave to fly to India
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10:41 No red tape: How one WhatsApp call set up the whole trip
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20:12 Meet Shafkat Alam and Tiljala SHED in Kolkata
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22:48 What rag picking actually means: Children scavenging trash for three dollars a day
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26:36 The vicious cycle: Loans, cheated weights, and getting locked in by the stockists
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27:54 Shafkat's father: First law graduate from the slums, primary school teacher by choice
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29:23 The first grant from Trickle Up Foundation in New York: One hundred dollars and one condition
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36:39 The 14-year-old who looked 10 and the mother who looked 40
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43:00 Holistic education: Taekwondo, guitar, scouts, and water parks for slum kids
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50:03 By the numbers: 35,000 families reached and 22,000 children in school
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50:51 The average age of marriage moved from 12 to 19 in one generation
Links:
Reach out to Shafkat Alam and Tiljala SHED to support thirty nine years of work pulling Kolkata's rag picker families out of poverty through education. You can donate, volunteer, or become an ambassador for the organization. Connor Hocking is also available to speak about his time on the ground in Kolkata.
Au revoir!
Episode 4