Awareness for prevention

An Unforgettable Experience

A call came to CHILDLINE from Sreejith, aged 12, saying that he was being physically abused by family at Kottoor near Nedumangad. When our team reached the place, Sreejith was the only one present. He had a swollen hand which was bandaged. Sreejith greeted our team happily. When our team enquired how Sreejith came to know of CHILDLINE, he exclaimed: “All our classrooms have beautiful posters of CHILDLINE and I am seeing it every day. I called CHILDLINE because of that”. We intervened with the family for the safety and protection of the child.

The above experience was an unforgettable one our team. Our efforts are seemingly bearing fruit. The poster campaign to all the schools in Kerala with help of the Social Justice Department has just been finished and almost all schools have put up the posters in every classroom. As the children are always seeing the posters with clear message to contact CHILDLINE when they are in distress, this incident shows that the message has gone across to children. There is a sharp increase in the number of issues being reported by children.

Don Bosco Veedu Society’s intervention to spread the message of child safety to over 12700 schools across Kerala is indeed benefitting over 38 lakhs of school going children across the state. Over the past few weeks there have been increased reporting of issues to CHILDLINE from children and this is a positive sign of child rights awareness among children. The safety of all children of our society is our aim. 

Child Labour

CHILD LABOUR BUSTED!

On Wednesday (02.07.2014) afternoon Don Bosco Nivas Shelter Home out reach staff at railway station found two children found wandering at the station.  They were dressed in shabby clothes and looked tired. They also had injuries on their body. We provided food and clothes and medical and while counseling them on the  same day, they (Anburaj aged 14 and Kartheesh aged 11) revealed that they were trafficked to work at Aluva-based JMS sweet shop. They were subjected to beatings on legs and faces and other physical abuse at the Sweet Company.

Anburaj said that more than 40 boys were employed at the unit and some of them had escaped when the unit shifted from its earlier place. They were brought to Aluva a few days ago by an agent Mr. Abraham by convincing them that they were being taken for a tour of Kerala.  Anburaj told that the name of the owner is Emmi (Emmanuel later police identified). They had beaten the children.  It is learnt that the children were at the factory for five days before finally escaping.

On Wednesday afternoon our staff contacted their family over telephone and verified their identities.  Maria Selvam mother of Anburaj and Chithra mother of Kartheesh reached CHILDLINE office on the same night.  They claimed that a neighbor called Abraham had offered to take the children for a housewarming ceremony in Kerala and promised to bring them back a couple of days later.

We passed the information to Eranakulam CHILDLINE workers and they traced the Sweet shop.  We intervened with the media and the police to trace and arrest the culprits. Aluva Police raided a confectionary unit in Aluva and arrested its owner and his two sons for employing minor boys from Tamil Nadu at the unit. The arrested -Immanuel (47), owner of JMS Sweets, Kunnatheri, near Aluva and his sons James (20) and Prince (18) of Tiruchendur in Tamil Nadu ­ have been booked under the Juvenile Justice Act.

The children were produced before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) on Friday 04.07.14.  CWC looked into the matter seriously. The mothers of these boys did not have any documents to prove that the two were indeed their sons.  The children will remain with Don Bosco Nivas till the required documents are produced by the parents.

The commitment of Don Bosco Veedu Society to the children at risk has brought many children like Anburaj and Kartheesh freedom from suffering and a life of dignity and worth. We hope that the state wide mass media coverage on the incident will bring in more awareness on the problems that our children face as well as deter people from harming innocent children.

Back to Life...

Right to Survival – A Basic Right of a Child

A call came to our CHILDLINE number - 1098  at 4.20  p.m on June 19, 2014 and the informer said that he found a new born baby with a family who were not the parents of the child at Karimadom slum.  Our team rushed to the spot and found a four days old baby with a physically challenged man and a blind woman who were incapable of caring for the child. They could not explain whose child it was. “A woman from Selam has been staying here for last three months and she gave birth to a child four days ago and left the place yesterday” said the neighbours.

Baby’s health was very critical as it was not receiving breast milk. Our staff rescued the child and handed over to the child to Child Welfare Council (Sisukshema Samiti) to care for the child.  We provided the details of the baby to the District collector Mr. Biju Prabhakar. He ordered an inquiry and asked the council to admit the baby to Thycaud Hospital for immediate medical care.

“Right to Survival” is a basic right of a child. According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) Child Rights are minimum entitlements and freedoms that should be afforded to all persons below the age of 18 regardless of race, colour, gender, language, religion, opinions, origins, wealth, birth status or ability and therefore apply to all people everywhere. The UN finds these rights interdependent and indivisible, meaning that a right cannot be fulfilled at the expense of another right. A Child’s right to survival begins from conception. The right to survival is inclusive of the child rights to be born, right to minimum standards of food, shelter and clothing, and the right to live with dignity.

Our team’s timely intervention has saved the life of the child and it is proved again that there can be no compromises where the right of a child is concerned. Let us join together to protect and uphold the right of every child!

S4S

Protect Children – Spreading the message!

From years of experience in dealing with problems faced by children, Don Bosco Veedu Society has formed a team called “Success for Success” (S4S) to provide awareness and educate child rights to children, parents, teachers and other stake holders.  As providing awareness to all people who deal with children is the best way to protect and promote child rights, we never lose a chance for the same.

The S4S team conducted an interactive session on child issues for ICDS workers at Priyadarshini Hall, East Fort on Monday, 09.06.2014. The class started at 10.am and concluded at 12 pm. More than 170 anganwadi workers and some teachers attended the training. The participants expressed their appreciation on the new knowledge they gained. One said: “The interactive sessions were so lively and informative, that it would surely be useful in dealing with children’s issues”.

Don Bosco Veedu Society’s ultimate aim is to protect the children from abusive and dehumanizing situation and to inspire them towards dignified life. The latest study of UNICEF shows that in India, children’s vulnerabilities and exposure to violations of their rights remain widespread and multiple in nature. The manifestations of these violations are various, ranging from child labour, child trafficking, to commercial sexual exploitation and many other forms of violence and abuse. Children especially in the early childhood are not safe even within the family. They are abused either physically or sexually. As per 2013-14 reports of CHILDLINE, Thiruvananthapuram 487 children have been protected from abusive situations in this district alone. This is indeed a cause for concern.

As  Anganwadi workers work at the grass root level training them can affect many more especially the families in the locality where they work.  

Stop Child Labour... Educate Children

From Hard Labour to the World of Letters

“I hail from a poor family at Puthukottai, Tamilnadu.  My life has been changed by the intervention of Don Bosco.  Now I am happy to attend school along with my brothers and friends”.

Thirupathi is a 16 years old boy from Puthukottai. On his way to Kozhikode to find a job, he was picked up by Don Bosco staff at Thiruvananthapuram Railway station. It took a few days of counseling to get informations about his home. Our staff contacted CHILDLINE  in Puthukottai and they traced his family. His father passed away and his mother’s income is meager to support the family. He has two younger brothers who are students. Tiruppathi wanted to join his mother to support the family.

We took him to Puthukottai CWC on 29^th May 2014.  With the help of CHILDLINE and CWC, he has been provided with a good facility to stay and study free of cost. The CWC has offered help also for Thiruppathi’s siblings. Now Thiruppathi is happy to resume his education.

Child labour is more a rural phenomenon than urban phenomenon in India. Due to acute poverty, poor families residing in rural areas like Thirupathi’s send their children to urban areas for bread and butter. This practice deprives children of their childhood, education and is harmful to their physical and mental development. Educating a can rescue a family from poverty.

Stop child labour….. Educate every child!

Catalyst for Change HD

Valedictory

Summer Camps Concluded

The month long Summer Camp conducted at Don Bosco Centre, Manacuad and a weeklong camp conducted at Don Bosco Nivas ended on May 27^th, 2014 with a joint valedictory function.

The function started with a prayer at 10.30 am, and Fr. PD Thomas, Director Don Bosco Veedu Society delivered  the welcome speech. The Chief Guest for this function was Shri. Sadan K, Circle Inspector of Police, Fort Police Station and the function was presided over by Fr. Stephen Mukkattil, Parish Priest,    Sahayamatha Church,   Manacaud. The other dignitary present on the dias was Mrs. Priya, Teacher and Caretaker, Children’s Home, Poojappura. More than 150 children from both camps and their parents attended the function.  The programme consisted of School materials distribution to all children and variety entertainment programme performed by the campers.

The children who participated in the summer camp belonged to the following categories:

•             Poor Children from karimadom Colony who are also part of the evening tuition centre.
•        Poor Children from the local area near CHILDLINE office
•       Deserving children identified from different parts of the districts who stopped                        schooling due to lack of finance

All children returned home happily having had lots of fun, learning and with school materials to continue their education in the new School Year