Education & shelter for homeless children in India

Dear Fellow being,

This time around I bring to you an endearing story of our child journalist Asma - meaning sky, and her tale to achieve her dreams.

All went well until the day when my dad died due to snake bite, at that time I was only 3 years old, my mother along with all my siblings packed all our belongings and by the time I realized we had made a home on the streets of Pune City, the early years of my life were spent on the busy streets of Pune Station, as my mother scraped a meagre earning from begging and doing petty jobs. At a very young age, I began begging outside the Dargah (Muslim holy place of prayer) along with my mother. I am the youngest of all 7 brothers and sisters, we lived in a thatched house on the footpath. We were exposed to various forms of violence and abuse, we did not have any access to primary health care, we were subject to cruel and inhuman treatments every day while living on the streets, we had no proper shelter nor were we safe on the streets.

When I was 11 years old in the year 2015 Rainbow Foundation reached out to me and now it is 4 years that I have been a part of the Rainbow Family. Before coming to Rainbow Home I was enrolled in school but I was irregular and did not have much interest in studies as there was always pressure from family to beg and earn a living, also since I never went regularly to school I was poor in studies and could not concentrate and often get beaten up by the teachers for not doing the tasks, which further disinterested me towards studying. The timely intervention helped me, as it did with so many other girls. And today I am attending formal school and studying in 9th Grade. I aspire to become a Police Officer. I live a life free from exploitation and abuse, a life of dignity. I am happy in Rainbow Home as I have a lot of friends and Didi’s around me who always guide me, help me whenever there is a need, I live freely, I enjoy dancing, drawing chit-chatting with friends and Didi’s and her in Rainbow Homes I got all these opportunities. Now I attend school regularly and get educational support from the teachers which has developed my interest in studies now I can even write and read without any errors, I can express my thoughts and share them in writing with others, I am very happy to be a child Journalist for Rainbow Saathi(Rainbow Homes quarterly magazine) as it gives me a platform to express my feelings and thoughts about issues of concern at the same time has given me the confidence to encourage other children to express themselves and then we together write in the Rainbow Saathi. I count myself to be blessed being a part of the Rainbow Family, my desire is to reach out to many more street children like me and to make them a part of this family.

I am from a Muslim community. In our society women every day wear burkha. And if a woman is seen without a burkha then our big brother they shout at us, and I do not like to wear burkha and we are not allowed to keep our faces uncovered. But in Delhi, people wear burkha and also cover their faces with a nakaf and they are not allowed even to lift the nakaf and if they do so, they are severely punished and are kept hungry for one entire day but I do not like it and because of which I stopped going there. My mother and sister force me a lot to go there but I say no baba...Muslim, Hindu, Jai Bheem, Maratha all discriminate each other and I don’t like it and whatever regarding caste discrimination that is happening in our society should come to end this is what I feel very strongly. In our society there are a lot of religions and caste and Muslim religion is a part of it. And these difference in religion and caste have been created by man himself and it is important that one should give some thought to it. Before coming to rainbow home we never celebrated festivals of other religions but after coming to Rainbow Home we celebrate festivals other than our own religion, and that time I understood the difference in religions and their practices. I understood that society doesn’t mean religion and caste but the place I live in, my surroundings, people leaving in my surroundings. But the society where I stayed before coming to Rainbow Home is not good, there every night men would come and torture girls, and if we did not speak properly to them then the next night they will come to our houses and steal and then physically abuse the women and young girls. I am happy to be in Rainbow Home here I do not face any such discrimination nor am I forced to wear a burkha.