The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Moving on to a better life

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 14, 2007
ePaper

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Moving on to a better life

Chitra V. Ramani

About 5,000 children land in Bangalore every year from various places
Close to 85 per cent stay back with their parents after being re-united

Bangalore: Raju (name changed), a 13-year-old, ran away from his home in Mysore 27 times. The volunteers from Sathi (Society for Assistance to Children in Difficult Situation), found him in Bangalore City railway station. They found him to be a substance abuser and sent him to a de-addiction camp. Finally he was sent home, where he seems to have settled down and is now going to a school.

Raju is one among the 5,000 children (according to a modest estimate) who land in Bangalore City Railway station platforms every year from various places. However, only a few among them are as fortunate as Raju. There is no account of where a large percentage of children have disappeared after landing at the station.

Shaikh Rahim, program officer at Sathi and member of Child Welfare Committee (CWC), told The Hindu that almost 15 children come to the city railway station every day. Of them, as few as six are identified and sent to the shelter. “Children, who are substance abusers, are sent to de-addiction and home orientation camps,” he said.

Various organisations, including Sathi and BOSCO (Bosco Onniyavara Seva Coota), work with a vision to ensure that children are kept off the streets. “At Sathi, we work towards ensuring that street children are sent back home and they grow well, without any abuse,” he said.

The children who are sent to de-addiction and home orientation camps are put through intensive counselling. “We then get in touch with the parents and ask them to come and pick their child up. The child, after the camp, is usually yearning to be re-united with his parents,” he said. There have been times, though, when parents do not come to pick their child up from the camps.

According to surveys conducted by Sathi, close to 85 per cent of the children stay back with their parents after being re-united. In the remaining cases, the child may have left home due to the inherent nature of the child or the environment in which he is in.

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