Ujjain:
A Dalit labourer, feted by Barack Obama when he came to India in 2010, now wants to return the souvenir he had received from the US President to draw his attention to the plight of poor parents who cannot even afford primary education for their children.
"Take back the souvenirs, we don't want them. We will live on the footpaths and somehow support out families," said 48-year-old Ramdas Ahirwar.
Ramdas was working as a stone-cutter at Tughlakabad Fort when in 2010, his elder son Narendra started a school for the poor where 12 children including his younger brother Vishal studied. The initiative was appreciated by President Obama who met them along with his wife Michelle and gifted a pen and a medal to the two brothers. The US President also recommended to the central government to help the family run the school. But a few months later the Ahirwar family was asked to leave and the school shut down.
(Souvenir gifted by Barack Obama to Ramdas Ahirwar during his 2010 visit to India.)
"After the school was shut our lives changed my elder son who was a teacher had to take up a menial job. My younger son had to give up studies, we are now daily wagers living on the foot path," said Ahirwar.
Ramdas earns Rs 400 a day and supports his family of four; he does not dream of a better life but wants to donate the land he has in his village so that schools and colleges can come up and the children from families like his own have access to education.