Indian runaways reunited with families

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runaways reunited with families in India

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Rakesh, a 13-year-old boy, ran away from his home in the poor eastern Indian state of Bihar. He took the first train to India’s capital New Delhi in pursuit of excitement and freedom. He landed up at New Delhi’s railway station and joined the gang of other kids at the railway station popularly called “Runaway Children”.

Rakesh is not the only one to have met this fate. There are hundreds of other runaway children like him roaming and living on the platform. Many other boys of his age earn their daily food by begging or doing petty jobs, and unwilling to return home.

The New Delhi Railway Station is the central point from where about 250 mail/express trains originate, terminate or pass through for different destinations and locations in India. There is a large influx of migrants, families and children from neighbouring states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Rajasthan.

The lack of shelter, improper medical facilities, physical and sexual abuse and lack of parental support are among the many problems these children endure day-to-day. They don’t have any source of recreation, so most of them end up gambling or taking drugs. In the absence of parental control or families they don’t get any exposure to moral values and various life skills like behaviour, manners and communication.

Rakesh’s mother was in tears to see her son after six long months. He was standing in front of her in a neat blue uniform, along with 19 other kids of his age group. Clutching Rakesh’s hands, her eyes instantly became wet. She gave him a smile and he smiled back. Soon he came near her, she hugged him and both broke in tears.

Rakesh was just one of the 10 boys who met their family after a long period of troubled separation. A few weeks earlier he was living on the New Delhi Railway platform, like many other boys of his age, earning his daily food by begging or doing petty jobs, and unwilling to return home. Now thanks to the intervention of an NGO helping the railway platform kids, he is a changed and reformed person. Sitting next to his mother, he was making plans to go home, study further and mend all mistakes. He had learnt about it from the De-addiction and Home Orientation Camp organized by NGO Sathi and Prayas in New Delhi.

This was the third such camp organized by Sathi and Prayas, in their three years of partnership work, in collaboration with Indian Railway to support children on the railway platforms, motivate them, educate and rehabilitate them with proper care and guidance.

A ceremony was organized in New Delhi to hand over these kids back to their families. The reformed children were all neatly dressed, well behaved and willing to go home.