Meet Anuj
Anuj* is from a low-income family who struggled to make ends meet.
When he reached the age of 14, unbeknown to his parents, he set off in search of work so that he could send money home.
But, just three days in to his arduous and low-paid job on a local sugarcane farm, he was told that he was being moved to another job in Kerala – a city more than 1,000 miles away. This didn’t sound right to Anuj who was worried about being moved further from his family.
Thankfully, his concern led him to run away from the farm. Anuj headed to Ghaziabad railway station, where our project workers found him and cared for him. They provided food, shelter and counselling - until he could be reunited with his family.
Anuj was lucky: he managed to get away before he was lost in a web of child trafficking and exploitation...
...But there are many more children who aren’t so lucky. For every child like Anuj, there are thousands of others being exploited and harmed through child labour.
Through working with families, railway staff and communities, we can identify and protect vulnerable children before they are forced into work, as well as intervening to get them out of exploitative situations. We run child help desks at train stations, providing a safe place for children to go if they are lost, scared or alone.
Can you help be there for more children like Anuj – so we can bring them to safety before they are lost to exploitation?
£21 today could place one of our project workers at a train station in India for a whole day, so that they can be there for more lost and vulnerable children.
*Name and identity has been changed.