Save the future of missing children at railway stations, before they are lost forever. Donate now

“For over four days, I could neither swallow a morsel of food nor did my tears stop. I sobbed while going from house to house in search of my 11-year-old son who had gone missing. The horror only ended when I received a call from the police informing me that the NGO SATHI had rescued my Aditya from a railway station in Pune,” recalls Rekha Devi, a single mother from Phoolpur, Bihar. Her pride and joy, Aditya embarked on an innocent adventure, boarded a train and lost his way back home. Little did Aditya know about the harsh realities of the world beyond his village and the fact that thousands of children like him are abducted by traffickers from railway stations across the country each year and are lost forever. 

Society for Assistance to Children in Difficult Situation (SATHI), one of the top NGOs working for lost children at railway stations in India, has been on a mission to save the lives of over 1 lakh children in the last 3 decades. 

But sadly the charity organisation, SATHI, had to shut down their shelter home for rescued children in Bengaluru due to a severe fund crunch. The lost children are at risk of abduction and abuse without SATHI’s help. Support SATHI to reopen its shelter home and strengthen its efforts to save lost children from railway stations. Your donation to the NGO will go a long way in rescuing children.

Donate easily through UPI, all debit/credit cards and net banking. Charitable donations to this fundraising campaign are tax exempted under 80G of the Income Tax Act (India), & 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (USA). 

How the NGO helps

SATHI workers are present at major railway stations such as Pune, Delhi and Bengaluru 24x7 so that they are the first to spot an unaccompanied minor in distress and reach children before they fall into the wrong hands. Without SATHI, one of the top NGOs based in Pune and also working in other cities, thousands of children could have been lost forever after falling prey to abusers and traffickers who are waiting to pounce, the moment a child gets off a train.  

“If a child is not rescued in time from a potential trafficker or leaves the railway station, that child could be lost forever. And therefore, it is imperative that we have our teams stationed on platforms. Once rescued, a report is filed with the police and government authorities, and they are then brought to our shelter homes. We then begin the arduous task of tracking the child’s family. Once that is done, a government body assesses the family of the child to evaluate if the child’s home is conducive for the child's wellbeing. In the meantime children are provided counselling to help them to recover from the trauma they have faced while on their own,” informs Vineet Raichur, Programme Director, for the nonprofit.

The children whose homes cannot be found or are unfit for the child are transferred to Child Care Institutions.

Abducted children face physical and sexual abuse 

“Children are forced to starve for days or beg for scraps to survive when travelling on trains. Often children haven't slept or eaten for days when they are rescued. We have had cases where children had suffered serious physical and sexual abuse. Our first approach is to identify children who are in visible distress, have soiled clothes and are scavenging in the garbage. It is the care and love they receive at SATHI, is what enables them to start feeling safe, Vineet says.   

SATHI is working at barely 50% capacity because of lack of funds, at a time when thousands of children are at the risk of losing their future. According to Vineet, SATHI had three operational shelters at Pune, Delhi and Bengaluru but due to a shortage of funds their shelter at Bengaluru had to be shut down. “Now we are struggling to run even the two remaining shelter homes, putting at jeopardy our work and the lives of children”.

“Our mission is to save every single child that has lost their way home but we can not do this alone. We are in urgent need of funds to extend our reach to ensure that we are there the moment a lost child lands at a railway platform,” Vineet says. 

Donate to this fundraiser by Give, India’s largest online donation platform, to support SATHI in their mission to rescue lost children from railway stations and save them from falling prey to abusers and traffickers.