Congratulations Amit
This week in the city of Haridwar, Amit Samuel, our Director of ‘Project Help India’ received a prestigious award of honour from the Director General of the Uttarakhand Police for his community work "bringing children from begging to school". Amit has worked alongside the police as a key leader of ‘Operation Freedom’. For 60 days, the Operation Freedom taskforce reached out to children and parents discouraging children from begging, raising awareness and to promoting opportunities for them to go to school.
Some of the exciting outcomes of this included individual counselling given to 300 children and of these kids, 270 have been successfully enrolled in schools. How awesome is this!
Because of the success of the program the police will deliver this program in every district of Uttarakhand and 'Project Help India' has been asked to assist in an ongoing capacity, as part of the leadership team.
At the award ceremony, the Director General of the Uttarakhand Police also praised and acknowledged the important work of 'Project Help India' and has asked us to expand our work into other slum communities beyond the cities of Kotdwara and Bijnor which is where we are currently working.
About children begging in India
Begging in India is operated and coordinated by highly organised crime syndicates. According to the Thomas Reuters Foundation;
“At least 300,000 children across India are drugged, beaten and forced to beg every day, in what has become a multi-million rupee industry controlled by human trafficking cartels, police and trafficking experts.” *1
It is estimated that between 40,000 to 60 000 children are abducted in India every year. It is not just in India where this happens, but in places such as China, Europe, and South America.
One of the very cruel aspects of begging is that many children are often physically maimed or burnt to elicit greater sympathy. The distressing scenes that you may recall from the movie ‘Slum-dog Millionaire’ are well and truly happening in cities across India, especially where there are foreign tourists.
Education is Key
It’s not just the need for children to attend school and receive an education, but parental education programs play a role in changing these insidious crimes. Parents must be taught to understand the value of education and to learn about the support and alternatives to child labour. Tourists who travel to India must also be educated to not give money to children who are begging.
“Tourists should never give money to child beggars we meet abroad. Not even the cute ones. Not even the disabled ones. Not even the ones who want money for school. Don’t give them money, or candy, or pens. It’s not generous. In fact, it’s one of the most harmful—and selfish—things a well-meaning tourist can do.” *2
As we celebrate the success of 'Operation Freedom' not only do we honour our Project Director, Amit Samuel, but we honour the leaders of the Uttarakhand Police and the many others on the team who have worked as part of this important community initiative.
We need your help to make a difference and "thank you"
If you would like to help us to continue to make a difference, especially as we consider helping further projects, please help us. Thank you to our many regular supporters, we hope that you are encouraged by the news that your donation is having a positive impact in the lives of innocent and vulnerable children and their families and in the community in general. This would not happen without you being part of our story.