In one mountain village in the south of my country, live and grow up kids, heroes, these today's story. I was left in shock when I heard a story on TV of children who walk to their school 25 km. Is this possible in the 21st century?
Several children from a mountain village grow up far from playrooms, cinemas, cafes, but that is not their biggest problem. Due to someone's negligence, they walk twelve kilometers in one direction to school every day. They wake up and get up before dawn that on difficult and inaccessible terrain, through the forest, at temperatures that can sometimes be in a big minus, arrived on time at school. Children walk five to six hours a day, from home to school and back, whether it's nice weather, breaking through the mud or walking walking on large layers of snow.
I remember a man with whom a journalist did an interview. The man introduced himself and said he had 3 children and his eldest son sometimes goes to school alone. I remember that the journalist was upset, he felt sorry for the man. I noticed that the man was answering the journalist's questions in a very calm voice. Then I thought, God, how mentally strong this man is. The man acted as if he were long accustomed to all this, forced to live by the cards that divided his life. He also said that they tried several times to find a common language with the local self-government, but that the problem was still not solved and children from this place still have to walk to school.
Then the journalist asked the man's son. The kid said he walked a lot about 12, 13 kilometers in one direction. When he comes back from school, sometimes he is scared, sometimes not.
" It's cold, I'm not afraid much, I'm used to it, but sometimes I'm scared. My hands are cold, I'm afraid of something sometimes. That when I went to fifth grade last year, now I go with two more brothers. When I went alone, I was scared, I just looked ahead. There are five of us, but we don't all fit in the same place. We walk for about two or three hours, we have to leave the house at five to get down at half past seven. We move in the dark to get on time, so that the teachers don't get angry. If we had a bus, we would know more, we would study better and we wouldn't walk that much, "said this little one. God, how this boy's words cut right into heart!
This boy's words evoked a mixture of emotions in me. On the one hand, I was sorry that such a small person has to fight with too many obstacles and on the other hand, I felt respect for this kid.
However, these children and their parents do not lose hope that their problem will be solved, and that it will be more like their peers, and not the stories of our grandmothers and grandfathers, who once, in those ancient times, walked to their classrooms.
You know, many children who have everything in life from toys to food they become spoiled. They cry if they don't like the cartoon and this child has only one wish, the bus!
Shopping malls where empty-headed rich people sit, GOLDEN land where good people swim in the mud. Shame that in the 21st century, children will walk miles to school. It is important to say that the golden age has arrived, that our GDP is the largest. Where are those great and powerful tycoons who have made a good impression on this country. Let them do a good deed and let them buy a bus for these children.
I am sure of one thing, these forgotten children will grow into good and honest people.
The photos used in this article are taken from the site www.google.com