A 12 year old boy named Anjaneya was observed roaming aimlessly in Hubli railway station. When asked for the reason, answer was I’ve come to my sisters’ place and waiting for my brother-in-law to pick me. After a time gap of an hour, asked again, the answer came to be “my father scolds for no reason all the time, so have run away from hostel”. He was taken to shelter of SATHI (Society for Association To cHIldern in difficult situation) counseled, got in touch with his parents (also counseled them) and finally homeplaced.
Hundreds of children like Anjaneya run away from homes every day. The reason could be as trivial as playing truant from school or even romanticizing the journey like the movies to ‘make it big in the city’ and only in few cases the reason could be as grave as physical abuse or extreme poverty.
Some of these runaways hop into trains to flee, mindless of the dangers lurking in the platforms and the streets.
Soon they adapt to their surroundings; often after being pushed around before being accepted in the ‘gang.’ They may even find a source of income through scavenging sweeping or begging. The vagaries of platform life suck them into a vortex and they succumb to addiction, disease and criminal influences. The platform becomes their home.
The platform child never grows up…..he just ages……
There is a misnomer that the platform children are either abandoned or from wrecked homes. This may not be true. Most of the children flee from home without a thought and cannot retract their actions either because of no money or fear or some are even lost. Parents often are desperately searching for the ‘lost’ child. There is no one more vulnerable than a lost child and no one more distraught than its parents. Hence, SATHI attempts to re-unite the runaway child with his family. “There is no place like home” is the fundamental belief of SATHI (Society for Assistance to Children in Difficult Situation).
SATHI’s outreach staffs are present on the platform. They persuade and convince the children on the platform to come to the shelter. The staffs counsel the child. If the child agrees to go back home, SATHI traces his parents, calls the parents to shelter, counsels the parents and reunites the family. This ‘home placement’ is SATHI’s core focus. The joyful reunion of the child and the family restores SATHI’s faith repatriating the children. The Railway police, the Railway officers, the vendors on platform, the state police, NGOs, Child lines, Child welfare committees and many people help SATHI in rescuing these children and saving them from the dangers of street life.
MY VISIT TO “SATHI”
May/03/2010
Reported to Siddu (Team Leader, Sathi) at 0900hrs. My task for today was to visit HUBLI railway station and look for runaway kids on platforms, talk to them and get them to shelter, where we would counsel them.
At 1000hrs reached HUBLI railway station looking for runaway kids on platforms and was accompanied by Muttu and Girija (Street Educators, Sathi). It was around 1130hrs, we saw 3kids roaming aimlessly on the platforms.
Waited for them to settle down and when they did, as told I started a casual conversation with the kids like asking for his name; place etc in soft and friendly manner. To extract information from them was bit difficult, as they were not ready to speak. Repeated questioning made them answer and were runaway kids from home. Convinced them to come with us to the shelter where they will be provided with food and shelter and also with the provided information, will intimate their parents to get them back home and join the family.
Girija talking to a runaway kid
On may/04/2010, they will be counseled by Siddu (TL), if information given by the kids is correct, we will reach their parents counsel them and the kid will be sent back home to join the family.
SATHI believes that the children belong to families. Runaway children must be rescued, counseled and re-united with their respective families.
SATHI staff is present on the railway platform from 5:00am to 11pm generally. If there are more children on any particular platform, the staff works 24 hours. Staff scours the entire platform.
Sometimes the staff takes the help of RPF (Railway Protection Force), GRP (Government Railway Police), local passengers, coolies, and older children to convince the child. The staff uses techniques like: taking the child to a restaurant, giving him medical aid if required, peer pressure, etc. in order to convince children who are reluctant to come to shelter. It is difficult to get kids who are highly addicted.
hi.. this is Raghu from SATHI(hubli). its really a great job done by you.it gives readers a refreshing and it can even make a small place in corner of their heart. thanks its awesome to read it about us like this. i would like to tell you some more activities done by us. such as camp for addicted children such as whitener solution inhaling,smoking, and for those who have made as a habit for leaving home again and again,and for those who have left home for longer duration also for the children who are not willing to go back to their homes.camp will be held for 30 days.
ReplyDeletethnx for ya comment Mr.Rahgu. I would love to work with SATHI in future. need your support!
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