By Sabin Sebastian, TwoCircles.net,
Guwahati – Child Friendly Guwahati organized a sports competition at Santipur for main-streaming the street children of Guwahati city at different centres namely Santipur Centre, Ulubari Centre, Fancy Bazaar Centre and Machkhowa Centre on 4th November 2014.
This was a great opportunity for the MSW students of Assam Don Bosco University to observe how the deprived section of the children can be brought back into normal day to day life and encouraged to participate in activities which are enjoyed by regular children of our society. The main objective of conducting this sport for the children was to bring them together as a unit and build up interest for their studies and schooling.
During this activity, the students of Assam Don Bosco University social work department interacted with some of the children to know their life stories.
A little girl who is just 3 year old told them that she was staying with her grandfather as her father expired and her mother went with another man. The girl however looked happy and joyful whenever attention was bestowed on her and it was observed that the little girl showed behavioral problems whenever she was alone.
This was an eye opener program for the students of Social work to learn about the social situations of street children who are deprived of their rights and who do not get the opportunity to go to school. Through Child friendly Guwahati (CFG) some of these children are being placed back to schools.
(Sabin Sebastian is studying Mass Communication at Assam Don Bosco University, Guwahati.)