Mumbai’s street fighters

 

MUMBAI: You see them everywhere, yet you prefer to ignore them. They polish your shoes, clean your car, deliver tea, sell roses at traffic signals, hawk newspapers and shiny trinkets on the train and even sift through toxic garbage piles to recycle plastic waste.

 

They are the street children of Mumbai, numbering in thousands. Local NGOs put their number at 20,000, but the United Nations estimates that there are about 2.5 lakh street children in Mumbai.

 

According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, India has the largest number of street children in the world — around 18 million.

 

“It’s almost impossible to get an accurate census as they are a floating population,” says Dr Madhav Chavan, one of the founders and programme directors of Pratham, an NGO that provides primary education to these children in Mumbai. “Once they get a taste of freedom, living like adults and surviving successfully on the mean streets, they prefer not to return to a disciplined lifestyle.”

 

Five years ago, the average of children who ran away from home in states such as Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh used to be eight years old. Today that average has dropped to six. “Most runaways are from UP and Bihar,” says Father Lester Fernandes, who runs the Shelter Don Bosco, which houses 250 street children. Satish Kasbe, another project coordinator with Pratham, says every child has a heart-breaking story to tell. “It becomes important to deal with them gently,” he says.

 

Pratham has offered shelter to 10-year-old Feroz Ahmed, who came to Mumbai with his aunt, looking for work. He wanted to find work in a zari-manufacturing unit so that he could send money back home at Balia, UP. Another runaway, Mujahid ul-islam, 10, took off from Darbanga, Bihar, to escape an abusive and alcoholic father. Sailu, 9, came to Mumbai because he wanted to visit a big city.

 

There are 68 NGOs working for the uplift of street children in Mumbai, but the fate of the girl child is very different. “A recent study has found that a girl, who arrives in the city, will last about 15 minutes before being approached by a “friendly stranger” offering help,” says Valerie Tripp, who works for the NGO Saathi. “Most strangers are agents for brothels, who whisk away the unsuspecting girl. That is why the female population of the street children is invisible.”

 

Destitute street kids also become victim to addiction. “Most have tried drugs or are addicts,” says Bharati Kadam, administrator of an NGO, Support.

 

 

 

MUMBAI: The Nathalal Parekh Road at Colaba gives way to a narrow lane opposite the YMCA Hostel, which nestles a small cottage called The Garden School. For 30 years, a charitable organisation, Prem Dan, has been managing the school, providing education to slum children.

 

Founded by Sister Felicity Morris in 1976, the school has 250 students. So popular it is among the community that Sister Morris and her team now conducts “entrance exams” every June to shortlist students.The criterion is simple: Admission only for the poorest of the deserving students. Team member Sister Patricia Santos says, “In the past, Sister Morris had to work hard to persuade children to come to school. Not any more.”

 

Prem Dan volunteers perform a background check for each student to ensure they are among the neediest. Apart from the primary education, the school finds individual sponsors to help deserving students study up to Class X. For orphans or HIV positive children, it offers free boarding in various parts of the city, including Raey Road, Geeta Nagar and Kharghar.

 

“Many children come back after clearing Class X exams and volunteer at our school,” says Santos. “For them, it is like coming home.”