The Weight of Silence

Publishing Books that Look at the World from a Different Angle

The Weight of Silence

The Invisible Children of India

Amidst the growing prosperity of India, there is an entire generation of parentless children growing up. They are everywhere. They fill the streets, the railway stations, the shanty villages. Some scrounge through trash for newspapers, rags or anything they can sell at traffic intersections. Others, often as young as two or three years old, beg. Many are homeless, overflowing orphanages and other institutional homes to live on the streets where they are extremely vulnerable to being trafficked into child labor if they’re lucky, brothels if they’re not. They are invisible children; their plight goes virtually unnoticed, their voices silenced, until now.

Endorsements for The Weight of Silence

“Weight of Silence makes visible children who remain invisible to the rest of the world and reminds us of each child's right to dream out loud and in color.”

- Geralyn Dreyfous, Executive Producer BORN INTO BROTHELS; Chair, Kids With Cameras

“A highly informative and inspiring book on a problem that has gone unaddressed for too long.”

- Kate Dancy, Media & Communications Manager, Save The Children

“Millions of children around the world are denied an education, forced to work in dangerous conditions, often left without access to adult protection, and at risk of various forms of abuse that expose them to lasting physical and psychological harm. In India, despite ambitious commitments made by the government, children remain vulnerable and easily silenced. Shelley Seale’s Weight of Silence speaks of the courage and resilience of many such children, and need for the world to shake off its apathy and invest in their future.”

- Meenakshi Ganguly, senior South Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch

“Mother Teresa used to say that ‘contributing to saving one child is saving the world.’ As a contributor myself towards this ideal for the last 28 years, I can only applaud to your book project about India’s invisible children. The more the world will know that alongside a ’shining India’ becoming a prosperous world power, there is another India of millions of children who will never enter into a school, the more these children will have a chance to beat their unlucky karma. You are certainly one of those who can help make a difference.”

- Dominique Lapierre, author of City of Joy

“Many people see the pain around them, but a few let others realize the struggle and pain the vulnerable people are going through. The media selected by Shelly is powerful and meaningful which can give visibility to children who are silent victims of HIV and other vulnerable situations.”

- Dr. Deeksha Pillarisetty, Vasavya Mahila Mandali

“I ‘accidentally’ opened the first chapter of your book and was not able to stop! Not only did it give me goosebumps and left me feeling inspired, but it literally made me want to buy a ticket to India and go and see it for myself. You are a true inspiration!”

- Chris Rault, Inspire Change

“A great combination of conscience and talent.”

- Douglas Kev, Social Justice Now

About the Author

Shelley Seale is a freelance writer based out of Austin, Texas, but she vagabonds in any part of the world whenever possible. Shelley is the Sustainable Travel Columnist at The Examiner, and contributes to Go World Travel Magazine, Gallivanting Magazine, Travel Roads, Andrew Harper Traveler, Intrepid Travel and the International Ecotourism Society. Her mantra is “travel with a purpose.” She can be reached at www.shelleyseale.com.

Just the facts!

Released: June 2009

Title

The Weight of Silence

Subtitle

Invisible Children of India

ISBN

978-0-9802323-7-0

LCCN

2009928185

Distribution

Small Press United