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Street Children's Charity In Goa
Founded in 2004, Children Walking Tall is a registered UK charity dedicated to helping slum and street children in India. From our base in Goa, we provide food, shelter, medical care and education for some of the poorest children in India. In a safe, playful environment, they receive a fun and creative education, and also have plenty of time to do what children the world over should do, which is PLAY!
Children Walking Tall was established to give these children a springboard out of poverty. It aims to give the children something most have never had before : a childhood worth remembering.
Who are these children?
There are thousands of children living in slums and on the streets of Goa alone. Some are orphans, others are runaways escaping poverty, neglect or abuse. These 'street' children originate from all over India and often come with their families looking for work. They build basic homes from bamboo, plastic, cardboard or corrugated iron, forming slum communities on any spare land they can find. Many make the long journey to Goa by train, sweeping the carriages trying to earn rupees as they go. These families and children are drawn to Goa in the belief that tourists will provide them with everything they need, but this is far from true. Street children can often be found roaming collecting rags or begging for money and sleeping under bridges or bus stations at night. They are frequently in trouble with the locals, who fear they will have a bad effect on business. Some earn money by rag picking or selling plastic bags in the fish markets, working up to 13 hours a day. Some start begging as soon as they are old enough to walk. Their vulnerability brings in a small amount of money, but as they get older and lose the look of innocence, many find it difficult to beg and are more likely to be classed by tourists as a threat than a child in need. Spurned in this way, many resort to petty crime and substance abuse. These children are at great risk from malnutrition, abuse, illness and neglect.
Update for Supporters and Volunteers Currently, we are waiting for our new licence to be issued after our last licence expired. Therefore, all the work ongoing at the present time is out reach work in the two local slums. This mainly consists of a morning school for the little ones (3 – 6 years). Around mid day we organise and provide a main meal to around 80 to 100 school children and provide fruit to around 120 to 150 children. In the afternoon there are homework and craft sessions for around 50 to 80 children.
"The love, affection, care being showered on the children, as if the children were their own and that too by strangers / foreigners, was a big surprise to us...”
“…The child was so dirty that it was a surprise that a foreign educated individual was taking care of the said child as if it was his own”
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Latest Updates 19th August 2010
