“A child is a child first” - Jatin, Save the Children India

“Impossible is a word to be found in a fool’s dictionary” – Sign in the Save the Children office

I have written here previously about the site team from RB Pharmaceuticals’ emotional and inspirational visit to the brick kiln factories in India.
This pioneering initiative with Save the Children aims to help improve the lives of children working in brick kiln factories in the rural areas of West Bengali, where thousands of children are trapped or trafficked or kidnapped from rural areas.

Since 2008 Save the Children has been working to eradicate child labour, provide childcare for working mothers and education centres for children. RB is honoured to partner with them, sharing our resources of time, talent and finances in this joint mission to ‘be the difference that makes a difference’..

We experienced another amazing day as we continue to weave the threads in our understanding around all the complexities of the project in order to improve the lives of children in the brick kiln factories.

We visited adolescent girls at the bridge course centre in the Haroa block. Educating the adolescent children of brick kiln factory workers becomes much more complex than the younger children as for many the learning gap is often too wide to bridge in order for them to be mainstreamed into state government schools. Their families depend on the extra income their work provides in order to simply survive.

The solution for many of these children points to developing centres where they can have a trade that will lead to a life outside the brick kilns.
Our girls were engaged in learning the Hindi and English alphabet as well as numerals. They were quite shy at first and warmed up to use after we greeted them in Hindi: “Namaste, my name is Joanne”.

We asked about their life in the brick kiln which they revealed was very hard. They rise early to work making bricks, go to school and then back to the kilns to help support their families.
Education is making it possible for them to dream of a brighter future. When asked, several of the girls said they would like to be teachers – returning the gift given to them.

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Our next visit was with the panchyat, the local leader of the Haroa black area with 7 kiln factories under his jurisdiction.
We asked many questions about his views of the rights of children labouring in the brick kilns. We were encouraged when he responded: “They are suffering and they are not meant to suffer”.
He shared with obvious pride that the 7 brick kilns in Haroa block are child labour free and each one has a bridge course centre. We learned through him that land had been selected in his area to build a government ICD centre which would provide educational health and child protection services to the brick kiln children in his area.
He was hopeful that construction would begin soon after the start of the Bengali New Year – April 15th (Construction utilizing brick from brick kilns that are child labor free).

We concluded our visit with a meeting at the NMCS project partner office with a lively sharing of ideas for future improvements to the brick kilns project between Save the Children, NCMS and RBPharma.
The passion and commitment of all members present was alive and palpable as we imagined together the possibilities that didn’t exist for these beautiful children just 2 short years ago!

“It’s giving a voice to the children” Manab Roy – Save the Children India

A voice indeed the world needs to hear to reach it’s fullness.

It’s easy for a large organisation to just donate a portion of profits to a charity organisation and call it social responsibility. But at RB, we like to get actively involved in the process when raising funds and make sure we have some fun along the way – what better way to learn about teamwork and achievement than a day on the golf course?

In April 2009, RB Australia organised a Charity Golf Day at Ryde Parramatta Golf Club to raise funds for its global charity partner, Save the Children. We invited customers/suppliers to partake in the charity event, which saw RB colleagues teaming up with members of each sponsoring company to play 18 holes.

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“It was a bloody fantastic day, the weather was perfect and there was great cross functionality…with people from sales, marketing, IT and supply backgrounds participating…it was good to mingle and chat with people from different organisations,” said Joel Mann, RB National Account Manager for Coles.

In the end, 18 organisations participated and we managed to raise $27,000 AUD and we couldn’t have done it without the collective efforts of RB colleagues getting behind this great charitable cause, giving up their time and energy to make sure the event got off the ground.

The best bit?

RB is committed to match dollar for dollar the amount raised on the day. That’s a total of $54,000 AUD! Fantastic job to all who participated!

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As you can see, it’s not just global headquarters in UK that get involved with corporate responsibility, each RB office has an ability to make a difference and we are actively encouraged to organise fundraising initiatives for Save the Children.

If you haven’t had the chance to catch up on some of my colleagues’ postings about their country’s involvement with Save the Children, have a scan through Joanne, Idoia, Eva and Oriane’s blog posts…

It takes a village to raise a child - Margaret Mead.

Many people have heard this saying from the anthropologist Margaret Mead – and the site team (my colleagues and me from RB Pharma and the Save the Children team) experienced it in action in all aspects of the project to improve the lives of children in the brick kiln factories.

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I wrote previously about RB Pharmaceutical’s new initiative and our visit to the site.
Today, we visited two Bridge Course Centers (BCC) at Brick Kilns in Barasat II Block.

BCCs are designed by Save the Children to help bridge the education gap of the children of brick kiln workers between the ages of 6-15 year,  to build up their learning level in order to ultimately mainstream them in the government schools.
The Bridge Course Centers are small brick structures around 10ft by 12ft with matted floors for the children to sit and there is natural light streaming through the slatted windows.

So imagine our surprise to find 46 children and two teachers engaged in active learning in such a small place!
We removed our shoes and slipped in, sitting amongst the children. The youngest children were playing a hand game with their teacher, learning how to count in a fun fashion. The older children were writing the English alphabet on their chalk boards.
The beautiful little girl I was sitting next to would repeat each letter as I pointed to it in a shy whisper. I was overcome with bittersweet emotion as our alphabet bridged the diverse worlds of this West Bengal child – the first generation of a brick kiln worker to receive any education and an educated American.

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After a short visit the children opened up their hearts to us and more than a dozen of them stood one at a time and offered us a song, a poem or a prayer.
We poured our hearts out to them as we clapped, cheered and cried with each generous offering. All the more moving as several women from the brick kilns were peeking through the slates as the children shared.
Imagine the new dreams they might begin to have for their children.

After our visit with the children, we were honoured to meet with many of their parents. They shared how difficult the life of a brick kiln worker is, labouring under the hot sun in back-breaking conditions, then entire families existing in an 8 x 8 ft shelter.

What touched us most was, like parents all over the world, they simply wanted a better life for their children.

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Our site visit today culminated with a meeting with several owners of local brick kiln factories. I must admit we were all a bit sceptical about how this meeting might go. Most of us believe that the brick kiln owners would be quite resistant to the charges we hope to bring. We started slowly asking questions about the brick kiln owners themselves, whether the brick kilns had been passed down through the families, had they built new kilns etc.

We gradually moved to questions regarding child labour, migrant families and education. The meeting was going quite pleasantly and we were finding ourselves growing more and more fond of the brick kiln owners as we began to realize that they wanted the same things we did for the children. They want their brick kilns free of child labour and were proud that children were being educated at the Bridge Course Centers on site at their brick kilns, too.
We learned that they had gone so far as to offer the land and the bricks to build the small schools.

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The big moment came when the question was asked about other brick kiln owners and government laws and initiatives for the project to eradicate all child labour in the brick kilns.
One owner, who had previously sat silent throughout the meeting, came alive and passionately shared that the movement has gained such momentum that change is about to happen on an unimaginable scale than could have even been thought possible two short years ago!

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Indeed it takes a village and RBP is now part of that village in West Bengal!

May love pass through our hearts into all that we do
- Indian Poet Rabindranath Tagore

Our hearts were opened and moved in unchangeable ways as the site team from RB Pharmaceuticals Cindy, Judy, Joanne (US) and Sandra (UK), along with our new friends from Save the Children Rebecca (UK), Lisa (UK) and Manab (India) spent an emotional and inspirational day visiting a brick kiln factory, bridge course centre and government aided school.

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RB Pharmaceutical’s pioneering initiative with Save the Children aims to help improve the lives of children working in brick kiln factories in the rural areas of West Bengali, India.
Thousands of children are trapped in brick kiln factories many trafficked or kidnapped from the rural areas of West Bengali.

Since 2008 Save the Children has been working to eradicate child labour, provode childcare for working mothers and education centres for children. And RB is honoured to partner with them in sharing our resources of time, talent and finances in this joint mission to ‘be the difference that makes a difference’.

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More than half the workers are women and children who are expected to carry 88 lbs of bricks on their heads for 656 feet 15-20 times per day (2 and 1/2 miles each day).

Can you image what it would be like to carry 88lbs of bricks on your head 70 – 80 times a day, 6 days a week, in temperatures reaching 100 degrees and high humidity for $1 dollar a week? What would it be like for you to watch your children carrying out the same gruelling labour day in and day out with no way out?

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When foreign visitors came would you have the energy and kindness of heart to offer a smile, show them how to make a brick and answer questions about their work and life? The brick kiln workers of West Bengal can and did. Everywhere we went, we were met with gentle kindness, curiosity and a generous spirit. Stirring us to dream bigger than we could have imagined to build a sustainable partnership between RBP and Save the Children to help eradicate child labor from the brick kilns.

Today we witnessed the gruelling labor as well as the HOPE for the young children being educated on site in a bridge care centre. We saw the smiles of the children as the wonderful teach reviewed their lesson plan of the day. We met families whose children are the first generation to receive any education at all thanks to the good work of Save the Children team in Kolkata. Only 2 years ago, education wasn’t even a dream for these families. Where would you be without education? In what ways might you be moved to take “ownership” of helping educate a child who may go on to dream the audacious dream of a life outside a brick kiln factory?

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Thank you Bart Becht, Shaun Thaxter and Rick Powers for lighting the fire. We are committed. We cannot wait to see how many from our RBP family will join us!

How would you like to use your business skills for something amazing?
To really show off your entrepreneurial talents while helping others?
Save the Children has launched an amazing initiative encouraging young people to use their talents to make a real difference.
Called Business Heroes, it is literally looking for that: young people who can use their skills to raise money for the victims of Haiti’s earthquake.
And as one of Save the Children’s largest corporate supporters worldwide, Reckitt Benckiser is furthering its commitment to help the charity by supporting this fabulous opportunity.

What’s it all about?
The initiative is designed to raise funds for Haiti after the initial media interest has dwindled.
You will pitch your entrepreneurial skills against others from across the country to see who can raise the most money.
And the business idea that raises the most money will bag an internship at Save the Children for summer 2010.
There is also a prize for the most innovative overall fundraising idea.
But not only that, you will have the chance to gain skills and experience to build your CV and ensure you stand out from the crowd at job interview.
The competition is open to anyone and you can enter as a team or as an individual.
But you are encouraged to think big and your project should be planned and have a budget attached.
Your funds can be raised by selling a product or a service.
And to qualify, a business plan must be submitted, funds must be received by April 10th and a one-page description of your initiative must also be produced.

Where to start?
If you need a little inspiration the Business Heroes site has an idea’s area to get you started.
Problems are opportunities so think of a problem people have – laptop surgery? Fixing push bikes? – and find ways you can solve those problems.
Do you have a skill to sell? Can you organise a charity auction? Can you organise an event?

If you are looking for ways to ensure you stand out from the crowd when it comes to searching for a job, this is an ideal opportunity.
Your ideas and achievements will be visible to companies across the UK who are searching for great talent.
And you could have the unique opportunity to work with an experienced mentor to develop your plan if your business plan is chosen.
So if you have a groundbreaking idea that can mobilise people and resources and affect change, why don’t you sign up?
If you’re looking for inspiration or more details, visit the Business Heroes website. You will also find them on Facebook and on Twitter.
This really is an amazing opportunity to boost your career prospects – and tangibly help Haitian children affected by the earthquake.

I would also like to highlight the quick response of RB in collecting funds for Haití. Several countries across the business started to fund raise money immediately after the disaster.
In Spain, for example, we gave the employees the chance to make direct donations from payroll and we raised more than 8.000€.

You can see the work of Save the children in Haití in the following video:

NOTE: If you are looking for seedfunding for your business idea (to get it off the ground) you will need to have your business idea submitted by Wednesday, February 10th at 11.59pm.