Education, food and healthcare for street children

Every child has a spark inside them, a small dream that just needs care, love, and the right chance to grow. In the past few months, we have seen again how this spark has turned desperation into hope and confidence for the children.

None of this is possible without your kindness and continued support. Because of you, these children who once lived on the streets of Kolkata now have that all-important second chance and a safe place to learn, grow, and dream again.

We wish you could also meet some of these children who have been shining in their own special ways. If you wish to, then do please let us know.

The future is bright; the future is theirs

Homelessness should never mean hopelessness. Yet too many children are left behind simply because they cannot access education. By opening doors to learning, we are giving every child the opportunity to dream, grow, and build a brighter, healthier future. 

Here are 3 outstanding examples of how your support is helping these children to grow and develop.

• Malti (14 years) struggled for years in Class 2, often failing and feeling left behind. In January, she was placed with the Mercury group for more focused support. By May, she had passed in all her subjects and now participates eagerly in class. Malti’s journey shows what happens when children are given the personalised care, attention that they need, as well as being shown how to believe in their potential.
  
  
• Asif (15 years) had been the top student in his class for two years until a new bright student arrived. Instead of becoming demoralised, he quickly matched his fellow student’s abilities and performance. Together, the two built a healthy spirit of competition as well as becoming a source of help for the other children. In May, both shared the first position in their class. Their story is one of resilience, mutual respect, and the joy of learning together.
  
  
• Sisters Drishti and Aisha continue to shine. Drishti secured the first position in her class, while Aisha is steadily improving in her academics and social skills with perseverance and determination to make the most of her opportunities. Their commitment to learning is a testament to how these children will grow when provided with a safe, fun environment to learn in, and having a strong belief and faith in their own abilities.

A Growing Community of Care

One of the most heartwarming changes during recent months has been the start of the school’s House activities. Through this initiative, the children are grouped into “Houses” with dedicated teachers to mentor and guide them. This helps the children to adopt teamwork, responsibility, and leadership in a fun, supportive, and nurturing manner. Their participation helps them to develop their social and communication skills, as well as provide them with a sense of belonging to a small family at school.

For many of the children, who once felt invisible or neglected because of life on the streets or challenges at home, this has been a powerful change. They are now proudly taking ownership and pride in their participation in their Houses. This new sense of belonging is building their confidence, trust in others, and their own abilities, both at school as well as in life.

Families as Partners in Learning

During the recent quarter, we have seen parents stepping forward to also support their children’s learning, even in challenging circumstances. They wanted to be collaborators in their child’s journey of growth, learning, and better future development.

To foster greater participation amongst the parents, a WhatsApp group has been established for those parents who have access to mobile phones. They can now both access relevant insights and information about their children’s progress, as well as help their children with homework. It also provides complementary support and encouragement when the children are with their parents, to help their children’s continued progress.

This initiative has also encouraged the parents to become more involved in their child’s education, growth, and development.

Already, we see the impact: children who needed constant, additional support at school are now also able to study and learn while being with their parents, which helps them to grow in confidence.

Seeds of Change

Education for these children is not simply a matter of reading books; it is also about encouraging their creativity, a sense of empathy, and their resilience. Despite their many challenges, these children are finding ways to learn, adapt, and become aware of the world around them.

For example, by introducing the children to World Environment Day, the children were presented with an opportunity to learn more about their environment, how people live, and how they can contribute to a safer, environmentally friendly world around them.

The children were encouraged and shown how to research everyday solutions to address plastic pollution. They came up with some enterprising and innovative solutions for reducing single-use plastics by recycling household items creatively.

They also planted curry leaves, lemon, and chilli saplings for the school kitchen as a way of learning how the food they eat is grown. By learning to nurture their plants during the growing season, they gained experience in assuming responsibility for their actions, working as a team, and the importance of growing food in a sustainable manner.

Equally important, these activities created opportunities for children to socialise and collaborate, building friendships and a sense of belonging that are often hard to come by in their daily struggles. 

Together We Are Transforming the Children’s Futures

All of these activities, efforts, and careful nurturing by trained teachers and counsellors are ensuring that these children are looked after, provided a safe place in which they can learn, receive at least one square meal per day, and receive medicare when required.

However, there are many more children on the streets that we also wish to extend the same care and support to. We receive requests from many homeless parents for new admissions of their children from vulnerable backgrounds.

To give them the best chance to learn and thrive, we also need more space in our school and more resources. Every child deserves a safe place to study, play, and dream, and this is made possible with your continued support. With additional funds and resources, we can also help expand the schools', the teachers’, and the counsellors' capacity and capabilities. So please continue to help in every way that you can.

Every valuable contribution, no matter how small or big, gives these children the joy of learning, the safety of community, and the courage to dream. What may seem like a small act of giving becomes a lifelong change in the children’s journey.

Thank you for believing in these children and their right to a brighter tomorrow.

We are delighted to share the growing, positive impact of your continued support for the homeless children of Kolkata, India.

We are especially pleased to report the progress made in providing the children with safe spaces, daily education, nutrition, loving nurturing & development with the help of increasing awareness and participation of their parents.

Building Safe, Nurturing Spaces

One of the biggest challenges with safeguarding the welfare of these homeless children is to ensure that they and their parents always retain utmost confidence every day in knowing that the children will be well looked after, fed, provided medicare and when necessary, the one-to-one interaction, love, care and counselling, with someone they trust, all in a safe location nearby.

This remains the constant focus of the teachers, counsellors and all our friends at streetchildren.dk, who ensure that the school facility always remains a safe place.

The growing trust amongst the migrant parents’ community is reflected in the daily attendance of 119 children at the school.

For children of migrant, daily-wage labourers, who spend long hours away at work, it is important their parents know that their children are kept safely away from the harsh environment of the streets as well as loved, cared for, appreciated as children and able to play with other children freely and without concern.

Daily Nourishment and Healthcare

Without the school facility, many of the children face very harsh, uncertain futures and usually have little or no assurance where and when their next meal will be.

That’s why with the help of 3 wonderfully talented and passionate ladies who cook delicious meals, the school provides healthy, nutritious nourishment every day, while the use of the school monitors helps to make sure every child benefits.

Education as a Turning Point

Among the many inspiring stories during this last quarter, has been the journey of two sisters, Drishti and Aisha. They joined the Sealdah Station School just about a year ago.

Raised as homeless children, living on the streets by a single mother working as domestic help for many hours during the day, and under the care of two older sisters, Drishti and Aisha have blossomed through their attendance at the school.

So much so, that they are now confident, well spoken, able to read and write and possess a strong work ethic, a sense of responsibility towards their mother and sisters as well as their classmates, many of whom look up to these two sisters as role models.

With continued support and encouragement from the teachers and counsellors, both sisters are now preparing to transition to the local state run school which marks an important milestone in their continuing academic journey.

This is a wonderful example of how your generous support and the efforts of our friends at streetchildren.dk is transforming the lives of these children.

Building Empathy, and Confidence

The children are carefully assessed when they first arrive at the school for their educational abilities, their livelihood circumstances and of course their mental, physical and emotional well-being and health.

They are then organised in carefully organised classes so that no child will feel neglected or unwanted or unable to participate. This is a continuous and foundational aspect of the teachers and counsellors daily efforts.

Using every opportunity such as the recent screening of the movie “Black”, during the World Braille Day, which helped the children understand other people’s vulnerabilities and the children’s need for adopting compassion, understanding, resilience and to seek as well as provide inclusion to others.

Another exercise where the children were invited to build and showcase their waste management models at a nearby Exhibition boosted their creative thinking, confidence, team spirit, and awareness of environmental and social issues.

Parental involvement and exam preparations

An important development during the last 3 months has also been to involve and encourage the parents to take a proactive participation in their children’s welfare, education and participation at the school.

This has fostered greater understanding amongst the parents and despite their incredibly tough daily schedules, especially for their mothers, they are actively helping the children with any homework, attending parents-teacher sessions, and supporting their children at home in a similar nurturing manner.

Looking Ahead

As we enter the next quarter, we remain committed to fostering a safe, caring and supportive environment where the children will receive every encouragement to progress academically as well as learn to enjoy the wonders of childhood without the constant challenges presented by their homeless and street bound circumstances.

We thank you for your continued support and kindness. Even improving and transforming one life is a wonderful outcome of such caring and passionate generosity. Please continue to support and promote awareness of these efforts.

Links:

• Education, Food & Healthcare for 300 Homeless Children