Bashbari

Visited this drop-in centre for working children in Bashbari, Mohammadpur. It offers non-formal education and facilities like washrooms, lockers, health information, counselling, medical check-ups, games, tv, savings accounts. They are also referred to other places for free health services and vocational training. One of the children here is already a celebrity having featured in a Sport Relief documentary. Most of their families have a total income between Tk. 2100-4000 (£16-30); but around a quarter were in the Tk. 1000-2000 range (£7-£15). The children themselves earn anything between Tk. 10 and Tk. 100 per day (between 8p and 80p) working as rubbish collectors, part-time domestic helpers, and porters. According to the centre's staff, everyone living in this community is part of the 'hardcore poor' and none of them use the two government schools that are nearby, mainly because they rely on the children's incomes, but also because of costs like uniforms and tuition fees. This project has a pragmatic stance of giving the children basic reading and writing skills, together with various other services, rather than trying to get them into government schools.

The game shown here is called carrom and involves using little discs to tap other little discs into holes on a board.