When I read this article on CNN.com yesterday, I knew immediately where the photo was taken - Kamrangir Char slum on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
I’ve been traveling there for almost a decade now. Water 1st has supported water projects in Kamrangir Char benefitting thousands of people.  Every time we visit, the slum is larger. In Kamrangir Char, you also see people, children and adults, hired as day laborers to carry buckets of sand from river barges. The sand is used to fill in wetlands, creating more land, on which wealthier land owners can build make-shift housing, that they rent to poor day laborers.
I think one of the final statements of the article is true: ” . . . in the absence of a real assault on the root causes of poverty, children should have the right to work.”Â
I’ve seen the battery recycling in Kamrangir Char. I’ve seen the children covered in black dust. It’s a sickening sight, and I want to scream everytime I see it. In a world that values equity and decency, how can we let this happen!
We can end poverty, and in doing so, end the conditions that force this children to work when they should be playing and dreaming of becoming cricket stars. Ending poverty is a huge undertaking, and you have to start somewhere . I believe that water, sanitation and hygiene education projects we are supporting are a real assault on poverty for the people of Kamrangir Char slum and around the world.