The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : 10 children reunited with their parents

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 29, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

10 children reunited with their parents

Staff Reporter

SATHI holds an event to conclude a programme of counselling for runaway children living on railway platform

ALL SET TO GO BACK HOME: Some of these children, who ran away from their homes, were reunited with their families on Wednesday in Bangalore. They were rescued from railway platforms in the city by a non-governmental organisation. — Photo: K. M urali Kumar

Bangalore: Ten children, who were living on railway platforms, were reunited with their families here on Wednesday.

SATHI (Society For Assistance to Children in Difficult Situations), in association with Paraspara Trust, had organised an event here to mark conclusion of a programme to motivate children who had run away from home.

The event was held at Ambedkar Community Hall close to Yeshwanthpur Railway Station.

The guests for the event were Pramod Kulkarni, founder of SATHI, C. Venkatesh, member of Paraspara Trust, and psychiatrist G. Gururaj.

The organisations work with children who run away from homes and settle on the railway platforms, now caught in a life they did not exactly enjoy but found it difficult to face their families again.

"The reason why children leave home is because of the parents' irresponsibility and illiteracy and poverty being of secondary concern," said Masarath Unnisa, a working counsellor at SATHI.

The organisation had organised a camp, which consisted of 21 children of the age group 10-15. The activities involved in the camp were building up a good rapport with children, practising yoga, teaching moral stories, imbibing good qualities of character, and giving an insight about the pros and cons of life on the platform. Some of the children were found addicted to street drugs and had to be weaned away with counselling.

The counsellors had to build enough confidence among the children to prevent them from running away again. It all ended with the camp closing ceremony, not far from a railway platform. The other children whose parents were in various districts would be helped to reach their parents in the coming days.

There were emotional moments when parents expressed their happiness in getting back their children. The parents were given counselling about the way they should understand their children and treat them in future. "When the child is with us, we don't bother to pay much attention to them. But when they are away we miss them a lot," said Dr. Gururaj.

Gurumurthy, a watchman of Bangalore, said his son Girish (15) went missing six weeks ago. The boy did not want to be in school and worked at odd jobs such as selling flowers on the roadside.

He lived on railway platforms around the city till he was spotted by SATHI volunteers and was brought to the camp. His story was similar to those of other children still living in railway stations and bus stands.

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