What TFWA Care did for... LittleBigHelp

There are more than 12 million street children in India, and it is estimated that 120,000 are in Kolkata. Despite their young age, these children have lived through neglect, abuse, and events have taught them that they cannot trust anyone. They live a harsh life without access to basic rights and many commit petty crime, sniff glue to numb their stark reality, collect bottles or work in other ways a child should not have to just to earn money to buy some food. On the streets, the children are vulnerable and some find acceptance and ‘protection’ in gangs. The longer the children have been involved in life on the street, the harder it becomes to help them out of that environment. LittleBigHelp’s goal is to work with the local communities and the vulnerable children within their vicinity and help them take the right direction.

Project in 2017

The stories are usually similar. The children have run away from home because of violence or poverty, or the parents have sent them away to earn money at the station, as there is not enough money at home to care for them. It is very common to see children as young as four wandering alone in the slum areas, while their parents are away working or in search of a job. LittleBigHelp has created Community Centers in different slum areas in Kolkata that offer a range of preventative measures in the local communities where these children typically flee. Through their trained Outreach Team, they speak with the children to boost their self-esteem and listen to their stories about how they ended up on the station platforms or streets.

 

This year, TFWA Care will support LittleBigHelp to run three new Community Centers in the slum areas of Dumdum, Santragatchi and Ramkrishnapur. The project's targets are to rescue street kids and help them rehabilitate:


  • Out of school children from ages six to fourteen
  • Mothers and their children until the age of five years
  • Offer vocational training to vulnerable youth starting at the age fourteen and help them develop certain job skills ( for example: beautician training for girls)



With a dream that all children should have a healthy and dignified life, free of poverty and its associated constraints and challenges, TFWA Care will join in and provide LittleBigHelp an extra boost to give these street children a normal life.