Childline, Anuradha Sahasrabuddhe

A disruptive fourteen year old with a police record talking of love is not something you see everyday. We were at a meeting in the slum talking to parents whose children came to the Gammat Shala, an activity project run by the Dnyanadevi organization. Most of the children had been shooed away but two of them hung around. One , a young disruptive ten year old who was almost the reason for us to stop the gammat shala, and the other this fourteen year old. The parents were demanding to know what we were giving their children. Before any one could say anything, the child said They give us love and affection. They listen to what we say. He went on to tell an upset mother that they heard, but never listened. This in fact, was the light bulb moment for me about the importance of listening. This was more than two decades ago and cell phones were unheard of, despite that these children would find a one rupee coin and call from a call phone booth. Gradually we realized that this was their way of extending contact with us. The more traumas they faced, the more they called. Childline was not supposed to be with me. I was just a part of the group trying to get Childline to Pune. But when they decided to come, they insisted that I take it over. The helpline started from March 2001. It received an average of 1500 calls per month for the first few years. This average gradually rose to 4500 and zoomed upto 25,000 by October 2010. The calls come from children in the slums, middle class homes and even the well off. The social and financial backgrounds do not matter. There was this little two year old who would call regularly and just chat about random things. She would tell us what she ate, when she started school, how the rickshawwalla kaka took her school. We would try to dissuade her from calling, but she would not stop. One day she wanted us to hear her recite a rhyme, and when we told her that she should recite it to her mother, she said that her mother did not have time. It seems unimaginable, but sometimes parents do not have time to listen to the two lines of poetry that their kids want them to listen to. All stories are not so simple or pleasant. Many are seeking to be rescued from physical/ sexual abuse, emotional support/guidance, repatriation, tracing missing children, medical help, etc. The age group of callers ranges from 2.5 to 25 with adults too seeking help for children. During the course of time, I have seen children with unimaginable physical abuse. Nails driven though their body, burns, and beaten up. Teachers too abuse their students and find newer ways to inflict pain. One child was made to stand in the same position for 15 days because he missed some program of the school. He could not even use the bathroom and would crouch uncomfortably causing others to laugh. One fall out of all this was the formation of Balsena, a group of young children whom we empower to boldly raise the issues that affect children in schools, like dirty bathrooms and lack of facilities etc. It saddens me and frustrates me when we cannot bring cases to an appropriate conclusion. Mothers refuse to testify on behalf of their daughters who are sexually abused. They turn hostile when the case comes up in court and the perpetrator walks free. Often no one even believes these children till they come to us and complain of the abuse. The abusers range from grandparents to uncles to neighbours. It could be happening in a slum or a swanky upscale apartment, in the best of localities.

One of the child marriages we prevented was in fact organized by a local corporator and we did it despite being threatened with bodily harm. So I have seen people from all walks of life, including the law-makers, abuse children. I do not even want to call the behavior bestial as even animals behave better. And in many ways it promises to get even worse., at least the statistics say so. But what I draw succor from, is that when a child talks, we listen!