This boy, about age 9 I suppose, sold bananas to tourists to feed to the elephants at bath time. It was fun to see his business skills. He'd shout out "bananas, bananas for the elephants" in English. Then when somebody came over to buy bananas they would ask "how much?" and he'd look them up and down and say a price according to what he'd think they'd buy! To some he sold for 5 rupees a banana, then to some 10, and they'd buy!! He did a pretty good little business. It was a school day and I asked him why he wasn't in school and he said his parents made him do this 'business'. So I had a good talk with him about the importance of school. I saw him playing with some kids when they got off the school bus so I'm sure he would like to go to school. What child would rather be alone on the street doing 'business' rather than be at school with his friends? I asked the waiter at the restaraunt at our hotel if he knew the boy who sold bananas and he said, "yes, I know the banana boy". Evidently the boys parents live quite aways away, he didn't know where the boy stayed. I asked why the boy's parents made him sell food instead of being in school and he said he didn't know but two times he had talked to the boy about the importance of school, the importance of learning. He said the boy's parents were 'short minded', in other words thinking about today instead of the boy's future. Somehow I liked this boy. One day we sat by him as he sold and a woman was grouching about the price of bananas and I got fed up and told her the boy was wanting to go to school and trying to earn the money. She bought a few but she continued to complain that she didn't know how many boys she was helping go to school! Then I told the banana boy that since I helped his business he must know that I thought school was very very important and I hoped he would go. There are many private schools here (big money machines for the rich who can afford to open one--they're usually boarding for the kids from the mountains) but there are also government schools that are free for 10 years. They have to pay for paper, pens, books, uniforms and small amounts for test taking during the year. This is another story but from what I have read many of the boarding schools are little more than fronts to get small children and sell them into prostitution in India. Very sad stories. Last week in the paper was a story about a group of older children found in India who were rescued and brought back to their parents in Nepal, in the mountains. They had been gone for many years but found and rescued, a great story.
