Volunteer with the Street Children of India Posted by: Alisa N.

#Asia #India #Volunteer with Children #Community Aid and Development

There is no accurate data on street kids living in India, just the fact that it has the largest number of child workers in the world.
This sentence alone says so much about the issue that there is no need to flash numbers with six zeros or report on statistics that
would overwhelm most who come across them.
We simply don’t know the gravity of the situation. What we know is that there is an astonishing number of children growing up
on the streets of India, who are mostly looking for one thing: a better life.
Who are the street children of India?
There are a few different types of children living on the streets, including those
that have families to whom they go back to in the evenings, and those that are on
their own, either because they have been orphaned or are runaways.
The ones who are going back to their families at night are not exactly in the clear,
as that could still mean sleeping on the streets. The runaways are roaming freely
because what is behind them is a life of violence and abuse, with the streets
offering them a better alternative.
Migrant children are the ones who leave their villages and travel to bigger cities
in the hope of finding work and being able to send money back to their families. Unfortunately there are many children, and also
adults, who follow this route, finding nothing more than a life of poverty, abuse and exploitation on the city streets instead... and
little means to come home.
The Indian street children tend to be between 6 and 15 years old and are mostly boys. Girls can usually only be found in the
shadows, so information on them is even harder to obtain.
What are the kids doing on the streets?
Most of them work.
As previously stated, these kids are looking for a better life; whether it be through
gaining enough money to bring back to their families in the hopes that their siblings
can then go to school, or because they seek freedom which can only be obtained when
there are no adults looking after you.
Their work can include shining shoes and sorting through garbage for recycling, or
selling everything under the sun to tourists and locals alike. This type of work can take
up 10-13 hours a day, leaving the children tired and with little motivation to attempt to
get an education.
What happens to the money that the kids make on the streets?
This is the hardest part of the story because this is essentially what keeps them in a loop of poverty: they cannot save money out
of fear of it being stolen, and they don’t always need it for food as there are kitchens for the homeless available at temples and
through organizations. Unfortunately that means that the money may go towards drugs or other products that don’t contribute to
a better future.
More importantly, because these children spend most of their day working, they are unable to get an education which could give
them with a way out of poverty. Instead, the street kids quickly turn into homeless adults, who in turn produce street children;
creating a never ending loop.
What are the consequences for kids who stay on the streets?
As most of the work is outdoors, the street children of India are exposed to the elements on a daily basis: extreme heat, months
of dangerous flooding and the winter cold. There is no relief of air conditioners or an extra sweater to pick out of the closet,
when the weather takes a turn. This naturally puts the children at a higher risk of getting sick and developing a more serious
illness.
The nature of their work, especially those working with garbage and in sewers, as well as the unhygienic conditions of their
living environment, can also contribute to them catching diseases that are far worse than seasonal illnesses. The lack of
healthcare available to impoverished people further decreases their chance of full recovery and may impact on their ability to
work in the future.
Living on the streets also means that the children give up their childhood in exchange for a life of hard work and no play. There
are no facilities or opportunities for children to just be children, unless they reach out for help, so unfortunately many start
drinking and doing drugs.
 How can we help?
When a child lives their life on the streets, trusting an adult becomes almost
impossible. Is this individual sinister? Will they put my life in further danger ? Are they
here to really help? This causes many to also not be ready to seek help or even talk
about their experiences; making rehabilitation harder.

GoEco’s Teaching and Community Work project in Goa and the Community Aid
project in Rajasthan, are established programs that help rebuild communities and offer
support to the people that are often most disadvantaged: the women and children. At the projects, you will have the opportunity
to build their English skills, raising their prospects of landing a good job, play games with them so that they can regain some of
their youth, and most importantly give them the love that they have not felt for a very long time.

Previous volunteers have also highlighted how rewarding the experience of

spending time with the children, especially when they got to take them on fun
trips, like going to the beach and to the zoo had been for them. By becoming
positive role models, the volunteers were able to create special bonds with the
children, even if it was for a short time, that created lasting memories and an
improved understanding of the world, on both sides.
Are you ready to change lives?
Head over to the GoEco website for more projects in India, or check out our
blog for past volunteer experiences in India.

Traveling and volunteering in India will take you into the heart of an incredibly diverse country. GoEco’s programs help to
address educational gaps and health issues arising from the widespread poverty in India. Whether volunteering in community
development, medical aid, or teaching, volunteers can contribute directly to meaningful projects that have measurable impacts.

A) Answer these questions with information from the text :

1) How many children live on the streets in India?

2) Why are the majority of these kids on the street ?

3) What are the different kinds of children living on the street according to the article?

4) Do they buy food with the money they make ?

B) Read the article again and mention...
1) ... how old children living on the street usually are. ______________
2)... how many hours a day they usually work. ______________
3) .... four of the risks of living on the street . _______________,_______________, _______________and _______________
C) Decide : a) , b) or c) ?
1) Children from the street find rehabilitation more difficult because
a) they don´t like the place they sleep b) they have problems trusting adults c) they are hungry
2) If children participate in the GoEco’s Teaching and Community Work project in Goa and the Community Aid
project in Rajasthan, they will...
a) go to school b) eat regularly c) suffer attacks
3) The objective of this article is convince people to ...
a) visit India as tourists. b) donate money to help street children. c) participate as volunteers .

4) People participating in this project will have the opportunity of ...

a) learning English. b) having access to medical centers. c) visiting incredible places.