Education India Project #2242

Rescue Junction Supports Street Children in India

by People First Educational Charitable Trust

Rescue Junction Supports Street Children in India

Project Report | Jun 13, 2017
Wouldn't it be great if we were not needed?

By Riya | Rescue Project Director

Thanks to Global Giving and all of you donors!

Hi Everyone!

Namaste to you all from the Gaya Rescue Project.

We are busy here day after day, week after week, and every year we reach out to more children than before. I often think wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was no need for us to be here at all but sadly we are needed more than ever these days.

Here is just one story picked at random from the 200 admissions in the last two-month period. We have of course changed the name.

Raj Kumar lived at Jabalpur (which is a town many kilometres away in another state called Madhya Pradesh) His father is a shopkeeper selling bags and he drunk every day.

After drinking he would beat Raj and his mother. After yet another day of abuse from him his mother came with Raj to her parents at Patna.

She started her own business a beauty parlour and admitted raj kumar to a residential school. After some days, as if Raj had not suffered enough at the hands of his own father , his teacher beat him with a metal pipe. In desperation, he ran away from hostel with 2 other boys and caught a train to Gaya. On the station platform, our team saw them and brought them to Rescue Junction where we provided the boys shelter, food and care and later counselling along with thier mothers. On the evidence provided by the boys the abusive teacher has been dismissed without references as the children did not wish to press charges.

Finally, we restored them with thier families , but they will come voluntarily to Rescue Junction every three months for a year to follow up on our intervention. The principal of Raj’s school has been informed if any other teacher uses violence against a pupil the children can inform us on the toll-free number 1098 and action will be taken. A ChildLine poster has been put up in the school and Raj and his friends did a presentation at the school about ChildLine and how it can protect them.

All our much-needed services cost money and I would like to thank you for your support.

I have a special very important message.

PLEASE NOTE THIS IN YOUR CALENDARS.

A SPECIAL GLOBAL GIVING CAMPAIGN

Great news: from 27 June until 8th August we are running a 50% match campaign called Her Voice, with USD 28,000/ GBP 23,000 available and matching donations at 50%, up to USD 1,500/ GBP 1,250 per individual donor per project while funds last.

This campaign is dedicated only to projects in India that specifically help women and girls AND that work to end violence against women, and your project Special Initiative for Girls No Abuse for Life, project ID 9798 is eligible.

This campaign starts at exactly 14.00 British Summer Time on June 27th so if you could possibly go online at this time and make a small donation it will be matched at 50% which would be a fantastic help to support our work with the young girls at Rescue Junction.

Thanks as always for your interest in our work , for caring and for helping our work here at Rescue Junction

Riya

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Mar 20, 2017
These stories will inspire you- these children and children like them need your help

By Riya | Rescue Project Director

The Children demonstrate against child marriage

Dear Friends and Supporters

Hi this Riya again with another Rescue Junction update.

How are you all? I hope you are well.

Here the colourful festival of Holi has come and gone and the children enjoyed themselves.

I thought for this update I would just share with you some stories of children coming through our doors last month, and thank you for helping to keep them open!

(names have been changed per our child protection policy)

Savtri (15)

Savitri was kidnapped on her way to school by four men in a car who covered her mouth. She remembers nothing but woke up, terrified on Gaya Station railway platform. Members of the public handed her to the GRP (Government Railway Police). She was traumatised and medical examinations confirmed she had been raped multiple times. Savitri is still being counselled and being offered gentle support and constructive activities like craft and in time she will be able to return home to her parents when she is ready but with ongoing support and care from the centres specially trained staff.

Shafi (8)

Shafi a boy aged eight decided to have an adventure and on his way to school took an auto from his college 50km away to Gaya. Eating samosa in a small café near the station, the owner was concerned when he was approached by three men, and intervened. He brought him personally to Rescue Junction where he has been counselled in a kindly but firm way with his parents and he returned home after a few days.

Prakash (10)

Prakash has never been to school and his father is ill and his mother was so poor. He was found working in a tea shop washing plates for 30 rupees a day (about 50 cents). He was rescued by the special labour department team formed with rescue Junction staff. Efforts are on to get him in mainstream education and for the time being he remains at Recue Junction.

Sanwi (20 days)

In a town, some 30Km away from the centre a 20-day old baby was thrown away near a riverbank. Found fortuitously by a member of the public she informed the local police who brought her to Rescue Junction for care and protection.

Per the norms and laws this little girl will be offered for adoption.

Soni Kumari (14)

Soni has had a difficult life. When her mother died when she was young, her father remarried only to constantly fight with his new wife and eventually she committed suicide by drinking poison. Soni went to live with her grandmother could not afford to keep her so she ended up with her aunty in anther village. Throughout all this she managed to educate herself up to class seven. She became friendly with a local boy and together they ran away to seek a better life together and were removed from a running train by the government railway police. Rescue Junction staff are working with her to decide the best option for her welfare and wellbeing.

The above is just a small sample of the work of the centre in just one month.

Thank you all, and I hope you like the picture of the children taking part in a colourful demonstration against child marriage!

Please don’t forget the small donations matching on these dates, please put them in your diary!

Announcing the Little by Little Matching Campaign! This campaign is designed to celebrate the power of small donations and the power of the crowd. From April 3rd to April 7th, Global Giving will be matching donations up to $50 at 50% while the $50,000 in matching funds remain.

Thank you so much again!

Riya

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Dec 21, 2016
511525 minutes so far and counting!

By Riya | Rescue Project Director

Vulnerable Children need protection

Hello Everyone,

May I start this update with sending my best wishes to all you for the New year and the festive season .

Over half a million minutes have passed since new years day, and as you we you we never close.

As we come to the end of another year here are some of the highlights of 2016,

From Sandeep (name changed)

‘I was lost and afraid. I felt as if nobody cared, that nobody cares for me.

My body still hurting from the last beating my stepfather gave me, I did not know what to do or where to go. Then I saw a poster giving the childline number and I did not need money to call, someone answered immediately and told me to stay where I was, help was coming. A golden window opened in my life, I was safe.

At last I was safe”.

Sandeep is 11 years old.

From the monsoon time.

We are as busy as ever here at the Junction, it’s the monsoon season, torrential showers and cloudy skies.

Based on information received about a child trafficker keeping children at his home we were able to conduct a raid with the police and labour department and rescued five children. Average age was 11 years of age. Our anti trafficking unit wants to spread the message children are not for sale.

There is also a sad case of a 13-year-old girl who was repeatedly raped and was rescued following a 1098 Childline call from a concerned member of the public. Pritya (name changed) gave birth to a little girl after admission to Rescue Junction and mother and child are doing well and receiving special care. Counselling is going on.

She has named the child “Kushi” which means happiness.

From the past year,

Sanju (11) was in the care of her brother as her parents work in Mumbai as domestic labour but her brother abused her and she ran away. Luckily, she called ChildLine, (toll free 1098) and our staff were able to meet here and bring her to the safety of Rescue Junction. Her case is ongoing and we are working with the police as part of our ongoing investigation.

Monu (10) was found as part of our anti child begging campaign and he was found begging .He was found to have to have desperately poor parents who were permanently drink and incapable of offering any care for him and he has been removed from their care by the police and placed formally with us. At the moment we are in touch with his maternal grandmother who seems willing and able to care for him, and he will go to school also. We are working on this.

Finally there is Pirya , who was rescued from a local brothel in one of joint raids with the police , traumatised and in need of medical care she is slowly recovering as our counsellors are working with her . In a meeting with the magistrate’s association they expressed concern that not enough was being done to arrest the owners of brothels that use underage girls and undertook to give the maximum sentences to those involved.

Pirya is 12 years of age.

We never turn any child away from our doors.

And just from today itself…

The boy in the picture, we shall call him Anand ( name changed) was brought to use by the police after running away from home and being found on a Delhi bound train. Our staff are counselling this young man but it seems like so many runaways that he has been the victim of abuse

Our work goes on thank you for your help.

You donations directly help children like these.

We really need your support to help us continue our work.

Please look forward to further reports in the New year with more stories from the Junction.

Thank you so much and have a great year!!

Riya

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