Catholic organisation rescues street children

Hundreds of children roam around the Varanasi railway station, of which many are sexually exploited by tourists or fall victims of drug abuse, that sees more than 300,000 passengers daily.

Street children in Varanasi railway station collecting used plastic bottles.

Varanasi:  A Catholic non-profit organisation Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) has been rehabilitating abused and neglected children in Varanasi in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh and has so far rescued more than fifty street children.

Hundreds of children roam around the Varanasi railway station that sees more than 300,000 passengers daily. Many are sexually exploited by tourists and are also victims of drug abuse.

Father Abhishiktanand (known as Father Abhi) and Sister Manju, a Catholic priest and nun, co-founded DARE in 2010 to rehabilitate the children of Charbhuja Shahid, a monstrous slum lying behind the station.

"If one goes to these stations at dawn, you will meet many children collecting plastic which they sell for 40 rupees per kilo. Currently, there are a total of 26 children who live in the family home of DARE. In addition, another 53 children have already been sent back home," said Father Abhi.

DARE tries to trace the families of the lost children brought in. Sangeeta, a girl of 8 years old, was found last October in the Varanasi railway station. She was lost in the crowd while travelling with her family after losing everything in the cyclone in Orissa. The girl was sent to DARE in November. Her family has been traced and was sent home.

DARE is the first and only NGO that has managed to enter into the urban slum where about 200 families live in huts made of trash and abandoned vehicles in extreme poverty.

It has opened a shelter for girls approximately 8 kilometres from Varanasi town. Children brought to the DARE shelter are given counselling, education, clothing and food. There are non-resident children also, who come every week to the DARE shelter to play, learn or bathe.

Both Sister Manju and Father Abhi are hopeful that change may come to Charbhuja Shahid. They are planning to expand the girls centre and to build a centre for boys also.

Last year, two boys and a girl of just a few months of age were rescued from the railway platform where their mother lay dead next to them. They were all taken in at DARE. While the girl remains at the DARE centre, the boys were eventually sent away to a shelter operated by another organization.

Spanish lay Catholic NGO Manos Unidas (Hands United) is supporting DARE in its efforts.