Unhappy Childhood

Once upon a time there was a very poor neighbourhood in the middle of a big city and there lived a very poor family too. The father had worked in a factory but now he doesn’t have a job, and he can’t maintain his wife, his two sons and his daughter. The family didn’t have anything to eat, and also they had to pay house rental. The wife decided that the only solution was to take his kids away from home, she didn’t love kids because she wasn’t her real mother: she was the stepmother.

The father decided to go to another city to work for some months and earn enough money for his family. The stepmother’s plan was to leave kids in another far away neighbourhood, so she said to them “Kids we don’t have anything to eat: you have to collaborate at home with money”, and she gave each one a box with imitation jewelry (bracelets, earrings, etc.) to sell on the street, when she said it. -Hansel suspected about that.

They had never gone out of their neighbourhood, and they had not known another parts of the city. When they boarded the bus to go into the centre of the city, Hansel left parts of the imitation jewelry on the road to find the way’s back home later. When they arrived, their stepmother said that she would return at night, and Hansel, Gretel and their young brother started to sell bracelets and earrings in the streets’ city.

When it got dark, the kids were very hungry and very tired and their stepmother didn’t return back. They were lost in the city.  But the moon came out and Hansel started to laugh, Gretel was confused and she asked her brother, -why are you laughing Hansel? - And he showed her something that had started to shine. It was the parts of bracelets that Hansel had hurled in the road, “We are save Hansel! -You are very smart -Gretel exclaimed. They followed the road with the shining plastics and finally they arrived at their house.

When they arrived, they opened door’s house and they saw their stepmother kissing another man. She was very surprised when she saw the three kids. She shout, -what are you doing here? - Immediately the man went out of the house and she punished them because they had arrived so late at home.

The following day they awoke up early to go again to sell in the streets, but now their stepmother gave them sweets to sell and they went to another  far away neighbourhood. In the way to the neighbourhood Hansel did the same that he had done before. But this time at night when they wanted to go back home, there hadn’t candies in the street shining; the people of the street had eaten the sweets. They started to walk in the streets searching their house. This time they were not lucky to arrive home and they slept in the road with other homeless.

The next day when they awake up they saw a nice little dog on their side, and they followed the dog. They walked some streets following the dog and finally the dog went into a pastry shop. They also went into the pastry shop, and they didn’t see anybody here. They were very hungry and when they saw all the cakes, cookies and desserts they couldn’t resist eating them, but suddenly they heard a shout, -who is in my shop? Hansel and Gretel were very afraid because they didn’t have money to pay what they were eating.

When the man saw the three poor kids eating, he asked, -why are you eating my cakes?-. And then the kids explained him the story why they had done that. At the beginning the man was a gentleman with them and promised them to find their house. They gave them food and at the night he offered them a bed to sleep. But the next day the man was very different, he said to them very angrily -you have to pay me all the things that I gave you-. Now the three kids had to work hard to pay him: Hansel had to work in the shop and Gretel had to look after his young brother and clean the man’s house.

They couldn’t do anything to escape because if they tried to do something, the man had threatened to kill them. They continued working here some weeks, but one day Gretel was in the kitchen preparing food and the man tried to kiss and touch her. She immediately started to shout to his brother, “Hansel help me, help me”, Hansel arrived and when he saw what was happening he stabbed him with a knife and killed the man.

At the end the people who was around the house, they heard the shouts and immediately they called the police. Hansel had to go to a young prison, and Gretel with her young brother had to go to an orphanage.

Nowadays child exploitation exists in many countries around the world. Children have to work in factories, houses, mines, etc. And in many cases girls are forced into prostitution. Many people from developed countries don’t know about this situation in the world because they have other interests, like things to buy or be the most popular and famous. People are not interested in knowing the reality because it is hard and they prefer to live in a dream reality.