By Rahul Thomas | Coordinator - Donors
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 in juvenile homes are one of the most marginalized populations in Mumbai. The tracking program of children discharged from juvenile homes help children get a start which will help them break out of the poverty cycle and fulfill their dreams of a stable future.
Sahaara staff procures addresses of discharged children from the home authorities. The trackers then traverse through labyrinthine gullies of Mumbai slums searching for the children’s residences. Through such home visits, networking with local schools, facilitating assistance in books and materials, the child is facilitated entry into formal education paving the way to a bright future.
Over the years, as we have interacted with the authorities of the Child Welfare Committe and children in Observation Homes, we have been exposed to another grave need. Many children in Observation Homes have no family or relatives with them in the city and could be taken advantage of, if on the street. The Child Welfare Committee (CWC), after tracing the origins of their family, passes an order for them to be discharged from the Home and reunited with their family. Being a minor, the child has to be physically escorted by two adults. The delay between the order from the court and the reunion with the family can reach up to 12 months. Sahaara saw this need during our visits and interactions with the CWC and children at the Umerkhadi Observation Home. Thus, in 2014, we have begun offering our services to the CWC to escort children back to their home in a timely manner to help them reintegrate into society.
The story of Khushi reflects this new involvment of Sahaara, where (sensing the urgency) we went out of our way to help someone in desperate need.
Khushi is a 17 year old girl who hails from Shivmogga District, Karnatka. She lost her father at the age of 4 and stayed with her mother, two brothers and two sistersin Shivmogga. Almost all of her family members are the rag pickers. Khushi’s mother is addicted to alcohol. When Khushi’s elder brother got married, both the families started staying together and his mother-in-law looked after everyone.
At the age of 15, Khushi’s brother’s mother-in-law forcibly got Khushi married with her neighbour who was a married Nepali man. Khushi had no choice but to spend her whole life with this man. Very soon she became pregnant and in the middle of her pregnancy her husband went to Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh to meet his first wife. Khushi delivered a baby girl. She was desperately waiting for husband but and he never turned up. Khushi decided to go in search of him. She left her 3-month-old baby with her mother and started her journey towards Gorakhpur for which she had to catch a connected train from Mumbai.
When she reached Mumbai, a ladies public toilet owner at the railway station kept Khushi with her for 2 days. One concerned women citizen of Mumbai observed this and found something wrong and brought this to the notice of an NGO. That particular NGO then rescued Khushi from the public toilet owner and admitted her in Umerkhadi Observation Home in Dongri in July 2013.
Sahaara staff came in contact with Khushi in the month of January 2014. As a part of our work, our staff traced her address of origin. The Child Welfare Committee then issued an order of escorting her to the Child Welfare Committee in Shivmogga in the same month but due to shortage of the staff, she couldn’t be escorted and was waiting for nearly 6 months. Finally we contacted the NGO who brought Khushi to Umerkhadi Observation Home and together we arranged for an escort.
On 16th of June, 2 female staff of that NGO and one of our male staff along with Khushi journeyed to Shivmogga, Karnataka. The team met with Khushi’s family members. Khushi was desperate to see her daughter but didn’t find her anywhere. After enquiring with her family members, she found out that they had given her daughter away to someone in her absence. On 17th of June, she was presented before the Child Welfare Committee of Shivmogga. The committee passed a decision to send Khushi to ‘Surabhi Ujwala Home’ which we visited and found it to be good for Khushi.
The committee has also ordered Khushi’s family to present her daughter in front of the Child Welfare Committee at the earliest and have kept the ration card of the family into the custody of the committee which they will release only when the baby is presented before the committee.
On 21st June, during a follow up call made to Khushi, she was excited to share with us that after about 11 months she has got her daughter back who was kept with her elder sister. The Child Welfare Committee has handed Khushi over to her elder sister and she is so happy to have found her daughter.
The satisfaction that we could sense in Khushi’s voice during this phone call has been a real reward for all that we could do for her.
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