Ex-child labourer promotes charity that rescued him

An ex-child worker rescued from a life of drudgery at the age of 10 by a West Cork schoolteacher is to spend weeks in Ireland highlighting the work of the organisation which saved him.

Nowadays he’s a university student and trainee social worker, but 10 years ago Bimal Gurung was a child servant who spent 16-hour days mopping floors, chopping vegetables, polishing shoes and shopping for a wealthy family in Kathmandu after his father died, leaving his family in poverty.

Bimal was among the first children to be rescued by an organisation set up by Clonakilty man and primary teacher Declan Murphy — in 2004 Murphy established just-one to help vulnerable children like Bimal in the Nepalese capital.

Child workers, he explains, are routinely expected to spend long days helping with household chores and even escorting their employers’ children to and from the school bus.

Bimal was put through school by the group, is in his first year of college studying sociology and English, and is currently working as a trainee social worker with just-one.

He will be staying for several weeks in Clonakilty, from where he will tour West Cork schools and speak to members of the public both about his experiences as a child labourer and the work of just-one.

Bimal’s grandmother originally got him the job in the household of a wealthy city family in a bid to save him from the poverty which crippled his family after his father died, explains Murphy, who says Bimal’s story is typical of many in Nepal.

“The conditions in which he would have lived and worked would be unimaginable to an Irish 10-year-old — there would be no such thing as a child like this having a bedroom or even their own bed. Many child workers sleep on old mattresses in a storage cupboard under the stairs and work from dawn to dusk. They would be first up in the morning and last to bed at night.”

Bimal will be staying in Ireland for nearly six weeks, along with just-one teacher Sati Balami and organisation founder Declan Murphy.

All three will be highlighting the work of just-one as part of a crucial annual fundraising drive for the charity.

Donations to the charity can be made via the website at just-one.org

- A talk on the work of just-one takes place this Wednesday at 7.30pm at O’Donovan’s Hotel in Clonakilty.