SOME STORIES OF THE "CHILD" SYSTEM'S CHILDREN

Nagendra was a runaway. Having left his home, unable to bear the beatings of his alcoholic father, he came to Vijayawada hoping the city would offer him a brighter future.

He found only further rejection, and slowly became dirty and then unhealthy due to lack of proper care. Very soon he fell in with a gang of children whose 'leader' was addicted to 'brown sugar' (heroin), eventually trying it out himself. He eventually joined burglary outings to get money for his own upcoming addiction.

He began visiting the SKCV Night Rescue Centre for medical treatment for a serious case of scabies. Slowly, with the loving care of SKCV staff and great personal determination, he kicked his drug habit and now has a good job. He saved Rs.1500/- and plans to open a small bicycle repair shop within two years.

Polerama is 11 years old. She has two brothers and one sister. Since childhood Polerama stayed with her grandmother in Guntur. After her father's second marriage, she was forced to do all the household work by her stepmother and grandmother. Her two brothers were sent to earn money and younger sister since she is small stayed at home cared for Polerama. Their mother sells flowers in Raja mundry. Occasionally, she meets her mother. According to Poleramma, there was more pressure of work on her in the home so she ran away from her grandmother\rquote s home & came to Vijayawada on her own. She was brought to centre from Vijayawada railway station by another girl. \tab She is now staying as a resident in SKCV Children's Trust ( Bala Prema) . Here, she has taken a good interest in studies and duties given to her, however she ran away from our centre to Rajamundry to meet her mother. She came back to Vijayawada along with her mother. She was found begging near a cinema hall. Her mother has now given formal permission for her to stay at SKCV and visits her regularly.

Marriyamma is 13 years old. She was born in Vijayawada. She has only her mother. Her mother was cheated two times by her would be husband. She tells that all is her mother's fault. Later on, a far relative, whom Marriyamma recalls as her father, would beat them. She studied till Vth class. After his death, both mother & daughter were forced to live on the streets . Her brother is missing since 2 years when his mother took him to the city during festival. Marriyamma was brought to centre when she was one year in Vijayawada. It is one year since her arrival at SKCV centre. She has excellent interest in studies. Besides this, she is also interested in Vocational training in the centre . Her mother regularly visits and trusts the centre. Now her mother is so confident that she herself is now introducing parents with young girls in need to our centre.

Shankar is now seven years of age. He ran away from home when he was five. He remembers working alongside his ailing mother in a fan factory, helping her to scrape together enough money to feed his baby sister. If he got the chance, his father used to take the money and get drunk. Upon arriving home, he would eat what little food there was, then thrash Shankar's mother with a belt. Many times he turned on Shankar.

After spending two years on the railway station at Vijayawada, Shankar met one of the SKCV contact groups and was invited for food and medical treatment. He never again returned to the station and is now studying in the SKCV Non-Formal Literacy School. Shankar's mother has since died, and his father has taken up residence with a prostitute. He is unwelcome in the house and does not visit, although sometimes he sits and cries thinking about his young sister.

Nityanand, the oldest of four children lost his father in 1986. He was then studying in Class VIII. His father had been running a business which the family was unable to sustain. His mother had no job. Money had to be earned for the family to survive so Nitya dropped out of school and started working as a mechanic. He later moved out of the house and was living on the streets.

One day his mother came to the shop and told him about SKCV and persuaded him to visit it. Nitya had heard of the organisation too. After taking some midterm tests he got into the next session of school. Nitya's mother started working in the fields to manage the family expenses.

After finishing school and a computer course Nitya was put in charge of the SKCV computer research department. If one were to see Nitya at work one would assume that he has undergone considerable training. This 19 year old is confident, clear and mature. He points out "Every child should have a chance/choice to do what he wants with his life."
Nitya's mother continues to work, his brother is at SKCV and his sisters study in hostels.

THE PERSON BEHIND THE "C H I L D" SYSTEM WAS ALSO A STREET CHILD
Sriman Manihara Norton was born in 1953 on January 9th in London, England, into a family of doctors. His father, Dr. D.W Norton, mother and grandfather were all highly respected members of the medical community in England. (His mother and father were running "War-On-Want" (North UK) and their children all used to help in packing medicines and clothes for the poor in India and Africa.)

He was educated at several distinguished schools in England,  but left Mount St. Mary's College, Sheffield at the age of 16 after studying English literature, social studies, drama and psychology. Then he ran away from home and lived on the streets of Europe for six years.

S Manihara took up working with various international charitable organisations, and in 1978 came to India as a voluntary teacher at a small school near Delhi, in order to experience for himself the rich culture of India.

Seeing the condition of so many poor people, he soon became involved in social work with underprivileged young children there, and later, to a greater degree in Bombay and Pune, where he personally set up shelters for many homeless children. In 1984, he single-handedly founded SKCV Children's Trust, a Trust organised solely to provide love and security to unwanted, homeless orphans and unwanted destitute children.

Since the beginning, he has been working tirelessly with various Indian national dignitaries to build up an All-India forum for underprivileged young children, and his personal efforts have been highly commended by Shri Rajiv Gandhi, President S.D. Sharma, Mother Theresa, John Major and many other world leaders. He has worked closely with municipal government in various cities of India.

He is now embarking on the biggest project ever taken up in India by an NGO, that of an entire vocational village for underprivileged children run by the children themselves. He is involved in various local and national initiatives for environment and social upliftment along with all the kind leading citizens and local government heads of Vijayawada who come forward to assist him in this great work. He is happily married to his Indian born Maharashtrian wife, Bhakti Devi, who is also the Headmistress of SKCV Charitable Non-Formal School, and who helps him constantly with his work. They both live in Vijayawada with their youngest son, Anandamoya, and all the children they help. Their oldest son, Madhava, is involved with the SKCV office in the UK.

Thank you for your interest. Please feel free to adopt .... or adapt any of this manual to suit your own needs. Please send me any suggestions, changes or comments so I can include them later.
With warm regards
S.Manihara (author)