SKCV Children Trust 3.66

India is a country of contrasts. Next to a small group of rich people and a rapidly growing middle class, there is a great number of people who have to fight for their every day existence. Many among them resign. Often alcohol and domestic violence make things worse. If they have children, they are neglected, abused or abandoned. Many of these children exchange the misery of home for a tough life on the streets, or they may search for institutional help right away. On the streets, children are unprotected. They constitute an easy prey for dubious employers, gang leaders, pimps and the police. They are, in fact, rightless and live according to rules which allow drug abuse, criminality, prostitution and violence.

In the periphery of Vijayawada, a busy trading town in Andhra Pradesh, there is a small peaceful enclave: a special village populated by ex-street boys. It offers space for about 130 boys, who after having been a regular visitor of the SKCV night shelter in the city, took the decision to change their lives completely. The village lies on the banks of the mighty river Krishna. It consists of a group of tiled, pink houses with verandas. There are neatly kept flower and vegetable gardens all around. On one of the edges there is a cow and buffalo shed. The village includes a hall for dining and another one for meditation. The latter visibly offers space for all religions.

There are boys everywhere, their age varying between 4 and 20 years. They read, play cricket or wash themselves or their clothes in the river. The moment the school starts, the village turns more quiet. Just like everything else, the school has become a product of the boys themselves. At their school they learn in a playful manner, offering lots of space for handicrafts and dance. Most boys speak at least a little English and ultimately a large share of the boys do their government exams.

Generally, you won’t see shouting wardens. The village seems to function without any effort. You may ask yourself: who is in charge? The answer is that, by and large, the management of the village lies in the hands of the boys themselves. The managing, older boys regularly hold meetings, listening to one another and coming to decisions in a way that can serve as an example to many others. The boys are not just kept off the streets. Of course, they are protected from the tough world of the streets, from drugs, violence and illness... And they are offered an alternative: they prepare for their own life, with a family, a job and an income... But there is more: because of their experience at SKCV, they may become special people who have learnt to appreciate themselves and others.

The dream of Matthew (Manihara) Norton

The village on the bank of the river is the accomplished ideal of the founder and father of SKCV, Matthew Norton, who started searching for adventure at an early age - to begin with in the US and later on in India. In the 1980's he started to take care of a number of street children in Pune. He married a local girl, Bhakti, with the idea to dedicate their joined life to the improvement of the fate of a great number of street children. In the late 1980's the mayor of Vijayawada, Jandhyala Shankar, a popular and influential man, invited them to start a street children rescue centre in his city. This invitation proved to be a solid foundation for SKCV. The organisation is strongly integrated within the local community and can count on the support of many of the inhabitants of Vijayawada.

It all started with a few simple buildings and a garden. At present, SKCV is a relatively large organisation, with a separate office, a night shelter, the aforementioned boys’ village and the more recent girls’ centre. Matthew died in June 2009. By sharing responsibilities and decision making with a group of ex-street boys who had stayed on to work for the organisation, he had attempted to make himself superfluous during his life. Nonetheless, his death came as a big blow and unleashed some political turmoil within the organisation. It took Bhakti some time to change from being an important but largely silent, motherly force in the background to become the head of the organisation. While things have largely returned to normal, the environment has changed considerably.

There are still large numbers of children who are abused and in need of help. However, the number of children actually living on the streets has markedly decreased. In itself this a joyful fact. It indicates that there has been some overall improvement in the fate of the Indian people. For SKCV it means that the focus of work has changed.