For the next four weeks I will be volunteering
with the Boys Town Society, an Indian Child Welfare Organisation which forms part of
the UK-based Joe Homan Charity.
The Boys Town Society (BTS) was set up by an
Englishman named Joe Homan, almost 50 years ago. Visiting India in 1965 he was so moved by seeing young poverty-stricken children living and working on
the railway station in Madurai, that he knew he had to do something about
it. His idea was to set up a small poultry farm in a mud hut and encourage
homeless youths to help run it, learn a trade and live off the profits. This
became the very first Boys Town.
Today there are six such Boys Towns, one Girls Town
and three Children’s Villages (for younger children) scattered across the state
of Tamil Nadu. Of course these days the focus is less on farming and more on
completing school and then going on to do technical apprenticeships or even
degrees! They have also established their own primary school for the kids in
the Children’s Villages.
The charity currently supports 700 children, who are
either orphans or children from extremely poor families where the parents
are unable to care for them properly at home. From the age of 6-11 the boys and girls live together in the Children’s Villages where there is 1 foster mother per 10
children. From 12-16 they live in separate Boys and Girls Towns.
After their 10th Standard exams (roughly
equivalent to GCSEs in England), those who are academically bright go
on to study for 11th and 12th Standards and may then do a
degree. The others are encouraged to do vocational qualifications. These trades
guarantee them a job at the end and obviously at a far better salary than they
could ever have hoped for with no education, in an unskilled job. You can imagine
how life-changing this program is to a child born into poverty.
I have been connected with the charity for a long time as my parents sponsored a young girl here, Selvi, for over 10 years.
They started supporting her when she was 5 years old and finished when she
qualified as a nurse at the age of 17. No longer needing the support of BTS,
she now works in a hospital in Madurai and at some point over the next few
weeks I will get to meet her for the first time! I can’t wait!
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| Mum meeting Selvi (aged 9) at the Girls Town in 2004 |
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| Mum met Selvi again last month. She is now 18 and a qualified nurse. |
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