The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Emotional scenes at family reunion

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Wednesday, Jul 08, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Emotional scenes at family reunion

Staff Reporter

NGO takes initiative in handing over runaway children to their parents

Twenty-one runaway children from different districts provided shelter at ‘Sathi’
They are counselled to give up addiction to sedatives and return home

Hyderabad: Having searched every nook and corner to trace her 12-year-old son, Laxmi Bai, hailing from West Godavari district, had lost all hopes of meeting her son again.

Fearing severe punishment for losing Rs. 100, which his mother had given to him, Raviteja left the house three months ago. Loitering on the railway platforms, he got addicted to sedatives.

But she could not believe her luck when members of a non-profit organisation – Sathi, Society for Assistance to Children in Difficult Situation, called her last month and informed that Raviteja was safe with them in Hyderabad.

It was an emotional moment for the mother and son on Tuesday, when Sathi members organised home-orientation programme and handed over Raviteja to Laxmi Bai. The moment she saw him, she broke into tears and embraced him.

Almost similar was the case with many other parents who had a reunion with their children at the Secunderabad railway station. Twenty-one runaway children from different districts were provided shelter at Sathi and counselled for over a month to give up addiction to sedatives and return home.

Laborious task

But tracking each boys’ parents and background information was a laborious process. The team had to develop rapport with them, spending weeks to make them talk freely. After obtaining the address and telephone numbers, information is passed onto their parents, explained Nagaraja, Sathi programme officer.

Most of the children were aged below 15 years. During the de-addiction camp, they were taught the importance of parents and their love, consequences of bad company and addiction and moral values. It is tough to blame the children, parents these days are not spending quality time with their dear ones, there by forcing them to take extreme steps, he added.

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Andhra Pradesh