SATHI helps runaway children reunite with their families

In January,Jishan Ali ran away from his home in Uttar Pradesh after his mother beat him. For three months,his family tried to trace him,even coming as far as Mumbai before returning to their village in Kanoj in UP. A few days ago,a city-based NGO Society for assistance to children in difficult situation (SATHI) found Jishan at Pune railway station and was reunited with his family on Tuesday. Around 50 such children,who ran away from home,reunited with their parents at the Yerawada Observation Home in an annual meeting organised by SATHI on Wednesday. According to SATHI,they find at least 100 runaway children each month at the city railway stations,many of them less than 10 years old. Most of them leave home either out of fear or in a fit of anger. The primary reason why most kids leave home is because they are beaten by their parents. “And more often than not,beatings happen under the influence of alcohol,” said Jyotika Wale,child counselor.

There are other reasons as well. Last month,the organisation found four children who had left home in fear of writing board exams. After leaving home,most children want to get back home and when they are found by the volunteers many are quick to give their contact number and address. “We reunite half the children we come across with their parents,some of them are sent to Child Welfare Committee while the rest are sent to some NGOs,” said Lakshman Manjulkar,Pune project officer.

Recently,an eight-standard student was reunited with his family. “Our elder son is in his 10 th standard and in the run up to his board exams,my wife and I were focusing on his studies and his exams. We never realised that our younger son was feeling neglected,” said Yuvraj Mugde,the father of the boy,who works in a hospital. SATHI staffers routinely check the railway stations for such children. “It is our greatest fear that these children could come in contact with drug-users and criminals,” said Sangeetha Parekh of SATHI. Recently,D K Jain,divisional railway manager of Pune division had called the children at the railway station as a security threat and conducted drives against them.