Why Didn’t You Come Sooner? review: Robbed of their childhood, they rewrote their future

The author draws from his grassroots experience of leading the Bachpan Bachao Andolan, which is a nationwide movement to secure the rights of children by conducting raids that free them from the shackles of servitude, campaigning against child labour and human trafficking, rehabilitating and reintegrating the children, and promoting the right to education for all of them. His profound knowledge of the subject at hand is evident in the writing. It makes room for statistics as well as emotions, both of which need to go hand in hand for effective advocacy.

Children as agents of change

Satyarthi introduces us to children who have been robbed of their childhood by adults who have forced them to work in stone quarries, carpet weaving factories, circuses, fields, and mines. It is hard to read these stories because each one documents the pain that these children have had to endure. Some were trafficked; others were made to starve. Some were beaten; others were sexually abused. Some were trained to beg; others were pushed into child marriage. Therefore, the title, which sounds both like a cry of anguish and an accusation, is fitting for this book.

The author uses horrifying and movingly told individual stories to highlight broader systemic issues that need our urgent attention. This is a fantastic approach because the personal element pulls us in and keeps us totally engaged in a way that a mountain of data bereft of human connection cannot. Satyarthi has built close relationships over several years with the people that he has written about in this book. Their names have been changed to respect their privacy.

The story of Devli, a girl who was rescued from a place called Charkhi Dadri in Bhiwani, Haryana, emphasizes how stone quarrying as an industry is built on violence against children. Satyarthi notes that approximately five million labourers are employed across stone quarries in India, according to one estimate, and hundreds of thousands among them are children from impoverished families trapped in debt. They have to toil in deplorable working conditions, which often lead to wounds and also expose children to the danger of being buried under rocks thrown up by explosions. In addition to verbal and physical abuse, sexual exploitation is rampant.

The story of Ashraf, a boy who was rescued from the house of a senior government official in RK Puram, Delhi, is used to show how ministers, parliamentarians, government officials, legislators, judges, diplomats, and officers working with the United Nations employ child labour. Satyarthi narrates the story of how he had to work closely with Justice V.S. Malimath, a member of the National Human Rights Commission and former judge of the Supreme Court, to ensure that all central government employees be prohibited from employing child labour in their homes.

This book has stories of children used as drug mules to transport illegal substances, children working at tea stalls, children suffering skin diseases because of the work they have to do in masala factories, and children sewing footballs in the sports goods industry. Satyarthi and his team, which includes his wife Sumedha, son Bhuwan, daughter Asmita, apart from his colleagues and fellow activists, have worked tirelessly to help these children rebuild a new life. What is worth noting about this book is that Satyarthi does not reduce the children to victims or beneficiaries. They come across as leaders, agents of change, as people worth emulating.

Their path to healing

In his introductory note, the author writes, “Every story you read here will deepen your faith in the triumph of light over darkness, hope over despair, justice over exploitation, compassion over cruelty and humanity over all else.” Having read the book, I can vouch that he is not exaggerating. While the book is filled with descriptions of unimaginable cruelty by adults towards children, it also showcases the immense courage and confidence of these children. Having suffered, they want to make sure that other children do not have to go through the same.

Satyarthi gives a glimpse of the work that is being done at Mukti Ashram, Bal Ashram and Balika Ashram — all institutions set up for rehabilitation, education and leadership development of survivors. Thankfully, he does not claim to transform their lives overnight. He acknowledges that some of the rescued children have trust issues, understandably so after being subject to indignities over and over again. They want to protect themselves from being harmed further. It takes time for them to open up and share their feelings, and this process cannot be rushed.

The book captures how these children blossom in an environment where they are allowed to heal at their own pace in the company of other children and adults who care about them. There is no fixed template or blueprint for healing because these children’s histories, journeys, traumas, interests, and aspirations are different. They study, play, sing, paint, help rescue other children, advocate for the right to education for all, and speak at conferences where they nudge world leaders to stop paying lip service and take concrete steps so that no more children have to suffer.

Not the prisoners of their harrowing past

A case in point is Rakesh, who was born in the Ghina village in Saharsa district of Bihar and was sold to a man in the Jansa village of Amritsar district in Punjab. Rakesh’s parents ran from pillar to post, trying to locate him, but it took more than a year to find their beloved son. During this time, Rakesh had to bathe cows and buffaloes, give them fodder, and clean their excrement. He had to sleep with the animals at night, and the owner used to lock the stable from the outside.

Rakesh was not the only child there. All these young labourers were given tea mixed with opium so that it would numb the pain in their swollen hands. Would you believe that Rakesh went on to become a jury member at the World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child in Stockholm?

When it was his turn to address the Queen of Sweden, he said, “I am from India, and I am here representing the countless children around the world who exist but are invisible. They have a voice but remain unheard. They have faces but have no identity.” Satyarthi’s book is a humble attempt to honour these children, their voices, their struggles and their dreams. They refuse to be prisoners of what others did to them. They are now scripting a future on their own terms.

This book deserves to be read widely, not only by activists, educationists and policymakers, but by everyone who cares about the well-being of children. They deserve a lot better from us.