La Frida Shanthi has come a long way

BANGALORE: This year, the theme of the World Anti-Child Labour Day may be hazardous child labour, but here is a girl who actually suffered as a child labourer working in a hazardous industry and has now turned a photographer all set to exhibit her first photography exhibition on Sunday.La Frida Shanthi who hails from Pune says that she lost her parents when she was too young to remember. “I was roaming on the streets and one fine day, I moved to Bangalore in a train,” she tells. Later, she was duped by a stranger who took her to Tamil Nadu where she was pushed to work in silk yarn industry.Frida explains that she was told to boil silkworms. “There was a huge vessel full of silkworms. I was told to stir and boil those worms. Many times, the boiling water used to spill and it burnt my hands.There are many instances where my hands got blisters because of this,” she remembers her tragic past. All she used to get is one meal which was not sufficient.She was not given any money.Frida ran away from the place as she thought she could not work there anymore.She then came to Bangalore and one day, saw the Bornfree van. Bornfree was then organising painting, clay model making and photography workshop for street children. “I just joined and found interesting,” she said.Later, Frida choose photography and now she is all set to exhibit her photography skills on Sunday. Her photography which focuses on child labour will be exhibited at K H Kalasowdha, Hanumanthanagar.A photo exhibition by Mioi Nakayama from Bornfree Art School will be showcased as well.