Inspiring teens in Luxembourg

If you were to find role models for today's typical teenagers, perhaps the last place you would look is 7,000 kilometres away in India.

But, that is precisely what one charity has set out to do. Bowled over by the motivation and drive of the youngsters they met in India, Aide à l'Enfance de l'Inde has brought five teenagers to Luxembourg.

The group, which arrived on Monday and plans to stay in the country for two weeks, shared heartwarming stories of how they are leading the fight for gender equality, a good education and general change in their homeland.

From cotton picking to politics

Each individual was voted by their respective youth associations to represent thousands of teenagers back in India.

For some, the journey has been longer than a 7,000 km flight to Luxembourg. Neela, for example, spent her childhood working in the cotton fields in Karnatka earning the equivalent of half a euro per day. Today, she is in school and in her free time she works to encourage parents to send their children to school, rather than work.

“A lot of children work on the cotton plantations,” the 15-year-old explained. “As a result they suffer from skin problems and they fall pregnant. Through street play, singing groups for kids and meetings we are trying to get children to re-enrol at school.”

Young people are the future

Political interest is strong among the youngsters as both Mehaboob, 15, and Manoj, 13, told reporters they hoped to become politicians when they are older.

17-year-old Rohini, from Maharashtra, is involved with a youth group which is lobbying on issues which you would normally expect adults to pursue such as getting kids back into schools, improving facilities and roads and even standing in elections themselves. “Unless young people take part, change will never happen there,” Rohini said.

Inspiring Luxembourg's youngsters

The issues these youngsters face each day- child marriage, child labour and gender inequality, are very different to the challenges of a typical Luxembourg teenager, which is precisely why they were chosen.

Aide à l'Enfance de l'Inde board member Gusty Braun explained: “The reason we invited these young people was because during a visit to India we noticed that so many groups of Indian children were organised, not just in setting up games of cricket in the street but also taking a stand against problems in their daily lives such as having access to adequate education.

"We were really surprised at the commitment of these children we came across during our visit. Then we thought of our children here in Luxembourg who are not very motivated to enter into discussion or action to improve their situations.”

Relearning lost values

The exchange is the third of its kind organised by Aide à l'Enfance de l'Inde. During their two week stay, the visitors will live with host families and visit various projects and youth organisations around the Grand Duchy.

While the aim is for them to take away valuable lessons from their stay- such as preserving the environment, locals too will learn from the actions of their guests. India still preserves many values which have been either lost or are less important in Europe, a point which was clear when the teenagers were asked what surprised them most about Luxembourg.

Rohini observed the size of the houses in Luxembourg but was surprised to find that just one or two people lived there. “More people should live together,” she suggested.

Mehaboob was surprised that there were no children playing in the street and Manoj pointed out that families spent less time together.

Meanwhile Meghana's tongue-in-cheek advice was for people to dress more brightly. “Everyone wears dull-coloured clothes here”, she said.