Pune: Interacting with Pope Francis for over an hour and later shaking hands with him has been the most memorable moment for city-based Kagad Kach Patra Kashtkari Panchayat (KKPKP) waste picker Rebecca Thomas Kedari who recently returned here from Vatican City.Speaking to Sakal Times at her Gandhinagar slum residence at Bopodi, Rebecca (56) said that she was thrilled when the Pope conversed with her and other delegates of a convention in Vatican City last week.
KKPKP had deputed Rebecca to attend the convention hosted by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences from October 27 to 29.
In her address to the convention, Rebecca said, “Hum apna haq mangte, nahi kisi se bheek mangte.” (We are just demanding our rights, we are not begging.)
During the interaction, Rebecca spoke in Marathi for 20 minutes about her struggle for livelihood as a waste picker and the help provided by KKPKP to her. She also said that other waste pickers should secure identity cards, jobs and most important - dignity to their profession.
Rebecca was the lone delegate from the city’s wastepicker’s trade union, KKPKP, at the conference which was attended by 150 organisations from across the globe.
At the conference, Rebecca shared how she has transformed from being a waste picker to a service provider. The audience was quite moved to hear the challenges to the formation of the KKPKP through her lens and the discrimination faced by waste pickers. She said that despite 25 years of the existence of the KKPKP, waste pickers in Pune are still fighting for their basic human rights like inclusion in social security schemes and education for their children.
In her speech in Marathi was translated into English by Aparna Susarla, a KKPKP activist who had accompanied her to the convention and the foreign tour.
Rebecca, who has studied up to Standard X, has been a waste picker for 30 years and associated with KKPKP for 20 years. Her married son, Lazarus, who recently lost his job, helps her in waste collection and their total earning is over Rs 10,000 per month.This has been the third time Rebecca has been delegated by KKPKP to represent the organisation at conventions of marginalised sections at world conventions. She had attended a convention at Senegal in Africa in 2010 and another one at Belgium in 2012.
Leaders from grassroots organisations
and movements of waste collectors, excluded workers, migrants and
young people’s groups attended the meet, besides bishops and church
workers.
The meet was aimed at discussing ways
of promoting social inclusion by reflecting on organisational
experiences of popular movements of the most disadvantaged and
excluded across the world. Addressing the delegates, Pope Francis
assured support to all social movements and said the structural
causes of poverty, inequality, denial of social and labour rights
need to be combated.
"We are pleased that Pope Francis
was very positive about strengthening the struggles of the
underprivileged sections of society. He has made strong remarks on
inequality and capitalism and stressed the need to support popular
movements. We look forward to strengthening these movements at the
global level."
— Laxmi Narayan, KKPKP member
Felicitation
The Pune Diocese felicitated Rebecca Kedari in recognition of the waste pickers’ eco-friendly role at a rally organised to protect environment at St Vincent’s High School in Pune Camp on November 12.e pickers are playing a great role in protection of the environment, said Pune Bishop Thomas Dabre.
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prakash - Monday, 10 November 2014 AT 09:02 AM IST
camil it was nice to read that ordinary people make extraordinary work and leave their mark on society
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