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Date with destiny, in dungeon

Emran Hossain
It seemed the child was wearing makeup to mimic a joker on the stage. A few more strokes of the brush and a wide grin would flash across his sad face.
The makeup man would never come, as the thin, brown layer on his little face was not powder but dust from aluminium particles.
TXvelve-year-old Raju was in fact working in a factory that produces household aluminium stuffs. Forced by hardship, he has ended up becoming a day labourer instead of going to school.
"Had my mother not owed Tk 30,000 to neighbours, I would not have left school. I now have to take up the responsibility of my family," said a confident Raju with a smile satirising all the poverty alleviation programmes launched so far by the government and donor groups.
"I would not leave school if I had an alternative," added Raju, the elder among two brothers and a sister, who hailed from Madbar Bazar in Kamrangirchar, Old Dhaka.
Every day he joins work at 6:00 in the morning and inhales a huge amount of aluminium dust. He works
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around 15 hours a day and earns Tk 400 a week with day-off on Friday.
He works in a machine called spinner, which shapes aluminium-made household prouucts and generates huge metal dust in the process.
Raju's life could have been different and he could have lived like many other children because he had every poten* rial. During his very brief academic career he always stood first in all examinations before he dropped out at class V.
But he now cannot even enjoy his only day-off of the week
"I do not have a day-off in the real sense as I do not have anywhere to play or anything to enjoy. On Fridays I eventually come to my office premisesand wander aimlessly."
His mother Reena works at the same factory. She said, "We asked him to continue his studies but he refused. In fact, he realises our financial condition and at this age chinks like an adult."
At the workplace Raju has again proved his merit and
been promoted to a machine operator after two years’ performance with Tk 400 a week. Salary at the factory varies on age and normally the smallest kids get the lowest.
Over one-fourth of the workers in nearby factories in Kamrangirchar are children, who operate machines, handle acid, colour balloons, among other things, 13 hours a day.
Like Raju, millions of children across the country are forced into child labour in various forms. They are not only deprived of education but also exposed to life risk and many diseases.
Apart from acid and aluminium these children are involved in work at different factories using colouring pigment, which experts say may cause cancer in the long run.
"I worked as a cleaner for six months in the beginning and then became a helper. Now I am expecting another promotion to a machine operator,' says 10-year-old Suman at Shuvo plastic factory.