Home is where the heart is!
Mumbai streets are full of homeless and runaway children. We are so used to the sight of street kids that many of us go about our routine life, without giving much thought to their plight. However, every street kid has a story – a home they come from and a family they left behind.
Samatol is an NGO that aims at rehabilitating and reuniting such street kids with their families. ‘Samatol’, which means balance, aims at just that – restoring a balance in the society where children are appreciated and treasured. The street kids that Samatol rehabilitates are runaway kids who have faced harsh situations in their lives. These kids also have many personality issues like lack of or slow speech, trust issues, various addictions or severe mental and emotional trauma.
Samatol has successfully rehabilitated many street kids and has numerous success stories to its credit. The NGO conduct home orientation programs like ‘Manparivartan camp’ which aims at counseling the children and their families so that they can rise up from their personal issues and lead a better life.
Prakash Devasi was a bright child, good in studies and harbouring dreams of becoming an IPS officer. However, a twist of fate brought him to the streets of Mumbai. A volunteer of Samatol found him at Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus and brought him at the Samatol shelter. Here, he got a chance to pick up studies once more and got friends and counselors with whom he could talk his heart out. After much counseling, Prakash told them how, after his father’s death, he had problems with his brother – which drove him away from home and forced him to do petty jobs for survival. Samatol was successful in making him share his feelings, his fears and his dreams and he is about to be reunited with his mother soon!
Samatol not only gives these children a hope of a better tomorrow, but also makes them capable of achieving what they dream. The NGO organizes workshops, camps and allows the children to try their hand at different vocations.
Samatol has dedicated volunteers who pick up stray kids and bring them to the shelter for rehabilitation. Here, they have access to many activities like painting, clay modeling, group reading, informal education, etc. which helps hone the talents of the children
Samatol aims to instill a sense of confidence in the kids too. They organize an ‘open house’ twice a month where the child is groomed – they get a hair cut, nails clipped, a routine health check-up and a chance to participate in interactive sessions.
For the overall growth of an individual, it is important that they have strong values and a family to fall back on. Samatol understands this and they are working towards this aim of creating a better society for the younger generation – one child at a time.
Samatol needs donations and help to keep its work going. If interested, you can reach Samatol on samatol.in/samatol or through their Facebook handle at www.facebook.com/foundationsamatol
