[Survivor Series] I am educating my children so they don't become bonded labourers

I am Puttaswamy Nayaka. I grew up in Kolegala in Karnataka in a very poor Schedule Tribe family. We barely had enough money to make ends meet. I was first sent into bonded labour at the age of 12 in 1995. My father had taken a loan of Rs 15,000 from a man to pay for my sister’s marriage. In exchange, I had to go work in his house to repay the loan.

I would wake up at 5 am, and have to tend to the cows. This meant I had to clean all the dung from the shed after tying them outside. I then had to go and get the fodder for them. I would eat a small breakfast and have to spend the whole day in the fields grazing them. I worked there for three years at a rate of Rs 5,000 a year. 

My family then decided to take another loan of Rs 15,000 from Kolagala Bettanayak to help our family and was sent to work in his house. Here too I had to spend long hours working for a very minimal rate. I worked there for two years. I would feel very bad for my condition as I wanted to have a normal life.

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However, we were still very poor and had to take loans to meet our needs. When my father took a loan of Rs 20,000 from a man in another village, I was forced to go and work in his house for three years. Then my father took a loan of Rs 50, 000 to get my younger sister married. By now, I was working for a rate of Rs.16,000 a year in lieu of the loan.  I worked in his house for three years from 2003 till 2005.  

In 2006, my father decided to finally build a house and took a loan of Rs 50,000 from a man. I worked in his house for three years. I would wake up at  5 am and work non-stop till 10.30 pm.  I was given three meals a day and two sets of clothes during the whole time I was there.

But, my life was about to change for the better. I met  a co-ordinator from Jeevika who had come to our village for a   survey. He explained that I could be released and helped me fill a form for my release and rehabilitation. After that, some government officials came and helped release me. Ten years ago, I was given my official release certificate.

By then, I had already cleared the debt. The panchayat gave me Rs 1,000 as the initial amount for rehabilitation.  Today, I am doing wage labour.  I am married and living in my own house on a small patch of land I own.  I have two children – the older one is a girl studying in Class 7 and my son is studying in Class 6. 

As a child stuck in bonded service, all I wanted to do was go and play with my friends and live with my family. I spent my whole life living in other people’s homes working for them and being treated very badly.

I don’t want my children to become bonded labourers; I want to provide them a good future and help them to live respectably in society. 

I am working with Jeevika to identify, release and rehabilitate other bonded labourers. We have formed a union of bonded labourers and agricultural workers.  I will dedicate myself to eradicating this system.  I am  grateful everyday that I was able to escape from it.