Phulamati Kumbhar
Phulamati has two children, Biswanath and Padamukhi, who both go to the RCC.
"We need to migrate as we don't have food or land here. We need to get a wage for six months. In the winter, it's the lean period from November to May and we get no work in the village. So we have to migrate to survive.
We take a long route to the brick-kilns in Andra Pradesh. We go through Raipur in Chhattisgarh (another state) because the government of Orissa tries to stop us from leaving the state. It doesn't want us earning money somewhere else. We have to travel in the middle of the night.
We go by train. We're jam-packed like animals and sometimes get beaten by goons (thieves) and police who take our money.
I always want to return to my village especially when there are festivals and gatherings, but I need wages for food.
I really miss my children but I want them to be safe and to study at the RCC."
After Phulamati had stopped talking, her friend Ughati Kumbhar added,
"We don't want our children to go to the brick-kilns and suffer like us. We want them to stay and study."