Social worker Emmanuel George told the Bulletin during a recent visit to Mallorca that he wants every child in India to be able to have an education, get a job and have a future. Emmanuel was in Mallorca as part of a trip to thank a number of European charities who help him manage the DARE Home, which was created in 2010 under the umbrella of the IMS (Indian Missionary Society), an organisation dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of children living in extremely vulnerable situations in Varanasi, northern India.
In Mallorca, Amics de la Infància collaborates with DARE (Development Association for Research and Empowerment) on various projects aimed at improving the living conditions and well-being of children abandoned on trains and at railway stations in Varanasi.
500 children
This collaboration has included support for the construction and improvement of the DARE Home facilities, a home that provides them with a safe environment, access to education and medical care.
Emmanuel’s visit to Mallorca, he last came to the island ten years ago, was to thank Amics de la Infància and its members for all its help and to try and encourage more people to get involved with the project in India. The situation is not getting any better, in fact he said that society is becoming increasingly divisive, which is creating new challenges for charities and the needy, in particular children.
Emmanuel and his team are currently helping around 500 children at five railway stations and between 25 and 30 in the DARE Home but they are all girls - the home is only for girls. “We only work in the railway stations. In the city there are only five and we work inside all of them, not outside,” he explained. “We are educating them up to the age of 25 in some cases, because when possible we send some on to higher studies, to university,” he said.
“Amics de la Infància has been helping us at one station in particular with preschool education. Once the year of preschool is over, they are then sent to good schools - private schools, and we cover the fees. So we have five projects operating and Amics takes care of one of them,” he said. Amics has been involved with DARE homes since 2018 and as a result at least 20 children are in schools. The project continues to receive support from Mallorca and other charities and foundations in other parts of Europe.
“Due to my work, from 2007 I was always having to travel around the province by train and spent the best part of four years in railway stations. Once on a train I counted some 200 children who came up to me asking for money, selling anything they had - water, tobacco - or offering to polish my shoes or even sing for me, anything. All this was going on in the compartments and on the stations. So I decided to so something for the children. That’s the reason. But I can’t cover all of India, so I started in Varanasi; the city is 20 square kilometres with a population of two million. That’s two million people living there , but then there are many more who come and go because it’s a city, especially children. Some of them get lost or have no money, so they hang around the railway stations in the slums,” he explained.
Slums and villages
“In Varanasi alone, there are about 200 children and young people, and many more come to the railway station every day from slums and villages to support themselves and their families - that’s why we are helping some 500 at the moment,” he added. “After having discussed the matter and my idea with a local nun I knew well, we set to work and have been working together ever since.
“Initially I had children coming to my house, but we were talking hundreds, so we decided to go to the railway stations where many of these children either lived or gathered during the day. We could expand but that needs money, so we’re concentrating on the five stations. We’re not only providing good education but good food, a hot meal every day from Monday to Saturday in order that they do not need to search for food while they are with us.
“Most of the children who come to us at the stations live nearby. With regard to the girls, those who are in dire need, we obtain court custody and care for them in the DARE Home. But the rest go home to their families at the end of the day or remain in the slum. There isn’t enough money to house them all, which is why the focus is on helping them acquire basic literacy skills and then send them to a formal school,” Emmanuel stressed.
“We have been lucky because we have been supported by the stations and the staff. In many the station guard or police officer has let us use their room to teach the kids. Only one charges us rent, but it’s minimal, so we are grateful for that. After a year with us and if the child shows potential and the parents agree, we send them to a good school, pay the fees, provide a uniform and Amics, like the others, helps make that happen.
"As far as I am concerned, I want the students to study until they are 24 or 25, until they get a degree and can get a decent job, start a proper life. That’s my dream because quite often, come 16 or 17, they’ve met someone and got married, so they have to go out and try and make some money and their education is over. And wages in India have risen very little over the past 40 or so years.
“For a basic day’s labour it was 250 rupees a day, some two euros 50 cents, now it is 350 rupees or 400 if you are lucky. That’s not going to make for a great future for the family and the children.
“This is my third visit to Mallorca since we embarked on the project and we’re all very grateful for the support and help and I hope to keep my dream alive,” he said.
To help visit: amicsdelainfancia.org.