By Taarika Chandy | Coordinator - Communications
Sahaara believes that every person has a dream, and our work centers around ensuring that marginalized persons are able to articulate and work towards achieving their dream. Children living in Mumbai juvenile homes are one of the most marginalized children in Mumbai. Institutionalized, these children are most often from highly poverty stricken families.
As a part of the holistic intervention therein, Sahaara imparts computer education to the children between fourteen to eighteen years of age in the juvenile homes. Sahaara’s in-house computer course delivers a fitting foundation to the children preparing their skills for the technology-driven world outside the homes. The children attending the computer training get a start which will help them break out of the poverty cycle and fulfill their dreams of a stable future.
Below is the story of a child who has benefited with the help of the computer training carried out by Sahaara personnel.
Beginning to Dream
This the story of a seventeen year old boy named Kunal*.
Soon after his birth, Kunal’s mother passed away, leaving him and his three siblings in the care of their father. Kunal’s father was an alcoholic who would repeatedly physically and verbally abuse him. One day, his father left their village and went to Bhusawal for work, leaving the children with their grandmother.
At the age of ten, Kunal ran away and took a train to Nagpur. There, a man offered him a job at a local wedding catering service. Kunal began to work there and seven years later in 2016, he began a relationship with the man’s daughter, unaware of who she was. When her father found out, he forbid them to meet again and threatened to send his daughter away.
After a while, the girl contacted Kunal and the two of them ran away and got married in a temple. The girl’s father lodged a complaint with the police and wrongfully accused Kunal of kidnapping. The two youngsters were found by the police, separated and brought back to Mumbai. Kunal was then sent to David Sassoon Industrial School (DSIS).
Sahaara conducts computer classes at DSIS where Kunal was enrolled in the classes that begin in July 2016.
When we first met Kunal, he was low in confidence, weak in English and had never worked on a computer. Through regular counselling and encouragement, we were able to build a relationship with Kunal and help him build his confidence.
Through the computer course he has learnt how to use Microsoft Office and daily spends time learning English words from the dictionary given to him. He also practices reading various English books. He has also shown great improvement in the typing course and now come to every class dressed very well.
He is enthusiastic about completing the computer course and finding a job as a machinist where he will work with machinery and hardware. He is also looking forward to finish his time in DSIS.
We hope to continue to work with Kunal and many other children like him, watching them grow in confidence and begin to dream! We hope to rehabilitate and give them a brighter and more fulfilling future.
*Name changed to protect identity
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