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Insights from the Initiator :
A factual story in 1989; The starting of my work in Vijayawada in 1989 was like a
honeymoon. The city administration could not have been more cooperative. It was
hard to find the means to feed the kids and to
keep going. Yet, things were happening, though
slowly. Then came the bolt from the blue. The
city commissioner and the mayor wanted me to
quit the shelter built on a plot of land given
by the city. I decided to stand up and assert
the rights of the children. I tried to discuss
with them. But they would not budge. I moved to
the state capital, met a couple of friendly
ministers and lobbied with them. It paid some
results. There was some change in attitude,
though not quite enough. I did not give up and
kept at them - every day for two long months.
Finally they came round and said that I could
continue to work from there. That was quite a
triumph for me. There has been no looking back
ever since. I was able to show the
administration the kind of results in terms of
the number of children contacted, given shelter,
home integrated and educated.
Yet, I felt that it was a lonely battle --
reaching just a small portion of the children on
the streets of Vijayawada city. That was when I
decided to change my strategy. I said to myself
that I should now involve the city
administration in a big way and make this its
work and also get the other NGOs to work
together.
I went over to meet the new mayor of the city, Mr.T.Venkateswara Rao
and shared my dreams with him. |
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I told him that there are several NGOs in the city working with street
children but we were not able to make an impact.
I faced hostility from the police, the city
administration, the public, the railway
authorities.... I told him that the only way out
was for him to take the initiative as the mayor.
If he would calls these various stake holders,
they would certainly come over and a healthy
discussion would be possible. Mr. Venkateswara
Rao picked up the idea. "Let's form into a
forum, with NGOs, the police, the railway, the
city admin, public spirited persons etc. I will
be sending out the invitation from my office to
all these persons." At the end of the meeting
the "Forum for Child Rights, Vijayawada" was
born with the motto to "make Vijayawada a child
friendly city". That was the beginning of a transformation in the city for the care and
protection of the young at risk. It has never
again been a lonely battle. |
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