Street Moms and Kids

On a busy street corner in Mysore in South India -- where our children used to live -- most of the women and kids have lived on the street for years. For two families, three generations of females have lived on the street for years. Some turn to prostitution. A few collect discarded vegetables from the market to sell on the roadside. There are many destitute elderly men and women whose families refuse to take them in.

One woman, possibly with HIV, has many scars on her forearms from cutting herself to try to bleed out the disease. On a good day, the average income for a street person is around US$1.00.

Some families live in shacks in nearby villages. They come to work on the street for four or five days. Their little ones come along and hang out on the street instead of going to school. Bus fare is too expensive to go home every night.

It is difficult to ascertain a street boy's true reason for being on the street, as he may have run away from a home situation too horrifying to talk about, preferring to roam the streets than getting beaten. The boys try not to carry too much money or belongings with them, because "the less I have, the less there is for someone to take from me."

Our Street People Program, on the streets of Mysore, provides assistance for women and children who live on the street.

The program serves two purposes: to provide on-the-spot assistance to homeless children and moms and to act as a feeder to our shelter, Karunya Mane.

Today, our program helps in the following ways:

• placement for the kids into shelters and educational facilities
• medicines for basic illnesses and doctor visits for sick kids and moms
• housing for qualified families
• daily vitamins and a breakfast snack
• sweaters and blankets for chilly evenings
• informal tutoring on the alphabet and numbers
• field trips to interesting local sites

Click here for a few photos from our program...

For most of their lives, these kids and moms have been ignored, abused, discarded and mistreated, and they naturally distrust others. Consistency has allowed us to slowly gain their trust. And, these kids and moms are just the tip of the iceberg. Thousands of other homeless moms and kids in Mysore live hand-to-mouth and need our help.

With your support, we can expand our Street People Program to provide street kids and women with a city-based community center. The community center would provide:

• storage for personal belongings
• shelter and safety at night
• a daily meal
• water for laundry and bathing
• tutoring and activities for kids not in school
• job training and employment opportunities