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Over 350 million people in India live below the poverty line of less than $1 (about 75p) a day. Growing up in extreme poverty means children are denied their most basic rights of education, protection and a childhood free from exploitation and abuse.
In India, EveryChild works to prevent children from being trafficked into sexual exploitation or forced into child labour. We help children, living in slums, on the streets and railway platforms who are living without parental care. We also help prevent very poor children from low castes, especially girls, from becoming victims of violence and exploitation.
> Find out how you can sponsor a child in India
What is EveryChild doing to help?
Rescuing children from a life on the streets - Bangalore
Hundreds of children can be found on India’s railway stations wandering the platforms begging, alone and scared. Shockingly, 90% of these children have both parents still alive somewhere - only 3% are orphans. EveryChild’s partner in India helps identify children in these desperate situations and provides safe shelters, helps counsel those traumatised by their time on the streets and, where possible, reunites them with their parents or extended family.
Saving children from a life of bonded labour - Tamil Nadu
It is estimated there are 15 million children in bonded labour in India alone. This harsh practice is widespread despite it being illegal. It happens especially in rural areas where landowners are able to ‘buy’ children to work on their farms, or as manual labourers, in return for a loan paid to the family.
These children are often separated from their families and are at high risk of being trafficked. EveryChild works in collaboration with local partner organisations to support children in bonded labour to return to school and back with their families where they belong.
Putting an end to sex trafficking - Northern Karnataka
Tragically, it is very common for young girls from the lower castes, some as young as 12, to be trafficked into brothels where they are sexually exploited. Some parents know this is their fate but, in their poverty, they see no option but to let it happen.
EveryChild is determined to end the discrimination and exploitation surrounding these very young girls. We support child activity centres which provide children with an education they desperately need. Through the centres we aim to change attitudes and put a stop to girls being trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation. The child activity centres enable community volunteers to monitor the children in the village and identify those at risk of being trafficked. We also support women who have experienced the horrors of the brothels as children form self-help groups and teach children and their families about the dangers of trafficking.
Kamraj - Havri, India
When Kamraj was 10, his father passed away, leaving his family in poverty. Shortly after, Kamraj ran away from home, hoping to find a better life on the streets. Instead, he fell into a life of drug abuse and violence, begging to survive at train stations across India.
Partners - TRAID
TRAID is a charity working to divert textile from landfill for reuse and resale. With the profits, TRAID funds innovative projects challenging poverty conditions across the global textile supply chain, and projects establishing environmental sustainability in some of the world's poorest communities.
TRAID has donated an amazing £42,568 to our project which works to prevent children from being forced into bonded labour, specifically in textile spinning mills. Increasingly, textile mills approach poor families with a scheme called ‘sumangali thittam’ which lures young girls into bonded labour with the promise of a marriage dowry at the end of their contract.
Visit www.traid.org.uk for further information.
What can you do to help?
When you sponsor a child with EveryChild you can help children living without parental care, their families and often their whole communities. For as little as 50p a day, you can make a real and lasting difference to a vulnerable child just when they need it most.
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