Story of Hope - Kavitha and Don Bosco

At just 9 years of age, Kavitha became both a heroine and a victim. She threatened to go to the police because her mother wanted to kill Kavitha's (just born) baby sister - an unwanted third daughter. The community intervened and the baby girl was saved, but Kavitha had to drop out of school to care for her siblings. Don Bosco Anbu Illam, a CRY America-supported project, thought Kavitha deserved better. They persuaded the little girl's parents to put her in one of their transit schools*. Her interest in studies only increased and she actively participated in all activities in the transit school. Her enthusiasm led the Don Bosco's counselors to arrange for her to go to a corporation school near her home. She's been there for 5 years and is determined to ensure that her younger sisters also get an education.

About Don Bosco Anbu Illam Social Service Society & Salem

Don Bosco Anbu Illam Social Service Society is a CRY America-supported project working in Ponnamapet, Salem, Tamil Nadu, South India, since 1987. The region is inhabited primarily by Dalits, eking out a living doing work no one else wants to do: scavenging, manual labor on construction sites, pulling rickshaws, sweeping. Salem lacks basic necessities like healthcare, sanitation, hygiene, education. Women bring up children in addition to bearing the burden of running the family. Children rarely finish school - girls drop out to take care of younger siblings and boys to start working. There is a high incidence of pernicious customs such as female foeticide and infanticide, child labor (especially bonded labor), and child marriage.

Don Bosco's Approach

Keeping ground realities in mind, Don Bosco has focused on developing (a) a sustainable rehabilitation program that includes awareness of the importance of education (b) measures that maximize enrolment and retention. These include running of transit schools and supplementary education programs that take place in the evening, sustained follow-up with parents, active involvement of Parent Teacher Associations, provision of shelter, clothing, food, vocational training, job placement and home placements.For street children, Don Bosco provides basic necessities, protection against all forms of abuse and prevents them from getting into conflict with the law.

The results

• 242 children who dropped out of school are now back in the formal education system
• 543 children are provided supplementary education through transit schools
• 65 child laborers and 22 bonded child laborers have been set free
• Women's groups are actively involved in immunization and other healthcare programs
• Children's Clubs are making children aware that they also have rights
• Community-based groups (women, youth) have been successful in discouraging the use of child labor

CRY America's role

Don Bosco Anbu Illam Social Service Society is just 1 of 10 child-development projects supported by CRY America. We partner with CRY, Child Relief and You, India's best known and most reputed child rights organization to ensure that grants are optimally utilized and the quality of projects is enhanced. CRY's experience in capacity building and monitoring has been developed over 25 years. This ensures that resources are deployed so as to address the root causes of poverty, exploitation and discrimination and grassroots projects are helped to maximize the impact of every dollar. To this end, we support and enable any or all of the following:

• Funding non-formal education centers or transit schools and pre-primary centers for working children
• Funding the community organizers, giving them a perspective on their rights
• Helping NGOs, like Don Bosco plan campaigns and programs aimed at mobilizing the community
• Providing training and organizational inputs that ensure the accountability and effectiveness of programs
• Linking the child rights agenda with the macro issues of livelihood
• Developing leadership in the organizations supported, and giving them inputs on how to advocate for community rights
• Linking up NGOs through the state and the country, enabling them to share experiences and learnings

At the core of all this work is the belief that each child has rights that society and the state owe her - the right to survive, to develop, to be protected against exploitation and to participate in the decisions affecting her future.

*transit schools: non-formal education centers that supplement regular primary education and motivate children to learn and want an education