Dehradun, For the past eight years, Mountain Children Foundation has partnered with CHILDLINE, a project of the Government of India to provide an emergency helpline for children in distress in the city.
The 1098 toll free helpline number is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week by 9 members of the Mountain Children Foundation CHILDLINE team who go out at any time of day or night to help children who are either lost, in need of medical care or in danger of harm or exploitation. This unique initiative has helped over 2900 children who were in need of care and protection.
Recently, as a part of their outreach program the team conducted a masked outreach at all the major traffic intersections in the city. Wearing brightly coloured masks, holding anti-begging placards, the MCF CHILDLINE team enacted skits to send the message of how child beggary is a curse.
While cars waited at traffic signals, team members approached motorists for alms and, when given, returned the alms pointing at their placards with slogans “Give education not alms – giving alms is ensuring child trafficking,” highlighted.
Since, child beggars have very little to look forward to in life and end up victims of drug or sexual abuse. The aim of MCF CHILDLINE is to ensure that these children have a promising future and do not end up becoming criminals.
Aditi Kaur, of Mountain Children Foundation tells us, “the number of Child beggars has increased tremendously in Uttarakhand and the only way to stop it is to stop giving alms. Government and non government – Aasraa and NGO has special educations centers for these children, but every time we give alms we ensure they remain on the streets.”
Next time you reach into your pocket or purse to give alms collected in a steel bowl or into an out-stretched malnourished palm, just remember, we are turning these children into ‘chronic beggars,’ something we should detest for their own well-being.
