All the funds raised by the activities of Draw the World Together are currently helping the work done by EveryChild in India.

 

India is home to one sixth of the world’s population. Since gaining independence in 1947, the country has established strong institutions of justice, media and bureaucracy and is now the largest democracy in the world.

Despite these advances, however, India is home to nearly a third of the world’s absolute poor.

Over 350 million people live below the official poverty line of $1 a day. India has almost two and a half times more illiterate people than the whole of sub-Saharan Africa, and approximately 62 million children under the age of five are malnourished.

The high cost of schooling and the need to supplement low family incomes is a major cause of child labour – nearly a third of children under the age of 16 are forced to work to survive.

EveryChild , with the help of their supporters, works with several projects across India. One of which, in Bangalore, has been chosen by Draw the World Together as one of the projects we would like our donations to go to.

In Bangalore, EveryChild help the many children who have run away from home and are living and begging on railway platforms. The children roam the platforms, spending their days begging, sweeping, picking up rubbish, and other menial jobs. They try to protect one another as best they can, but they are at risk of exploitation, trafficking and drug addiction.

The project staff record around 25 children arriving unaccompanied each day, at great risk of being approached within minutes by ‘brokers’ who would traffick them into exploitative environments for labour or commercial sex work. While some boys we reach speak of being beaten by parents and fear of punishment as reasons for running away from home, sometimes they simply wanted to experience life in the city and explore.

EveryChild reach as many of these children as possible and try to be the first adult who approaches them on the platform. They provide a whole spectrum of support, from basic needs such as shelter and education to more complex support such a family counselling and are working to build a network of agencies and services that will still protect children after they return home.

The ‘de-addiction’ camps working with children addicted to substances are highly successful in encouraging children to look beyond life on the street to a future with family support.

Over its lifetime of 4 years, the project aims to reunite 2400 children with their parents, and provide intensive de-addiction camps for 400.

There is vital work being done here, and none of it would be possible without supporter groups such as Draw the World Together, whose donations enable EveryChild to reach as many of these incredibly vulnerable children as possible.

Pictures by Grant Squibb