The Street Children Project is the first initiative of Hamara Foundation, Started in 1989 with 50 children at Jijamata Nagar, Worli. The Project currently looks after more than 450 children on the streets and pavement dwellers, who are provided with several services for their development and empowerment through five contact centers D and G South Mumbai. Various services such as health care, bathing facility, nutrition, education (Formal and No- Formal), skills training, recreation, picnics and outings, day and residential camps, money savings, locker facility, movie screening, library, counseling are provided.
Health care services are provided to children through first aid facility at all centers, periodic medical camps through hospitals. Preventive and Curative health care services plays an important role in ensuring healthy life of underprivileged children.
Various workshops pertaining to arts and crafts, sports such as football, cricket tournaments, communication skills, are conducted by our organisation. We also conduct screening of different movies, short films and documentaries as leisure time activities.
Education is one of the most important focus area of our organization. We place significant emphasis on motivating children to join or continue schooling and also take up skills training to visualize a career and work towards it. The staffs tirelessly work to ensure that no child remains out of school and has a right to education under Right to Education Act, 2012. All efforts are made to prevent school drop out by regular follow up with children, families and school.
Currently more than 450 children are regularly attending schools and learning well. Various supportive services such as distribution of education materials, meeting with children and parents, school teachers, study classes, etc are provided to sustain children in schools and monitor their scholastic progress.
Our organisation provides facilities for extra-curricular activities like yoga, story-telling, indoor and outdoor games. We conduct workshops and sessions on important matters like saving the environment, anti-tobacco, time management, etc. We also conducts vocational and skills training programmes like basic computer, retailing and marketing, hospitality, beautician course.
As street children constitute one of the most vulnerable sections of the society, our organisation conducts counselling sessions with the help of qualified counsellors to provide psychological support to these children.
Days of national importance like Independence Day and Republic Day as well as numerous festivals like Holi, Diwali, Moharram, etc. are celebrated with children from all centres. Children along with parents come together to exchange happiness and good wishes and participate in cultural programmes.
Often the team faces numerous difficulties when working with street children. Sometimes the families of the children do not co-operate, children fall under bad influence and quit the programme mid-way, donors stop funding or lack of funds puts a strain on the educational plan of children, it is difficult to find qualified teachers and volunteers and other such issues. However, despite being riddled by these difficulties, our organization has managed to make a significant positive impact on these children and the results can be seen in the behaviour and the progress in education made by them.
