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Approach |
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A unique methodology in six steps has
been evolved since it’s twenty years of existence |
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Street presence
Children living on the street
develop a strange and paradoxical attachment to it. We confront
the reality of their street life by meeting them at different
street corners and railway stations, be their friend and share
with them their adventures and struggles for survival. Thus
we provide them with healthy adult role models, support them
and take up a positive attitude towards their future. |
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Weaning
We help the children to understand
that they have not been forsaken and make them aware of their
own rights and duties. We speak to them of other choices of
life and make them discover Ashalayam, if they show the desire
to know it. We stay beside them and help them leave the streets
to turn into balanced human beings, personally fulfilled and
socially contributing. If possible, we even try relocating
their families and accompany them back to their homes. Grooming
This stage take place once the
children become sure that there is a better place than the
squalor and misery of the street. We live with them round
the clock, providing them love and guidance, instilling self-respect
through clean habits and polite behaviour, developing their
sense of responsibility and identity. |
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Training
We give the children the option
of either academic or vocational training. If they want and
are capable, they can proceed for higher studies. In the vocational
stream, about twenty five technical and craft workshops have
been created which help the children to bring out their talents
and later on earn an honest livelihood. |
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Saving
We now concentrate on teaching
the youth the art of saving. To encourage this habit, a savings
bank account is opened for each child. The children learn to
earn from the workshops by selling their crafts, spend a portion
of their earnings and save the rest. After the age of eighteen,
the young adults are placed in rented homes, where they learn
to fend for themselves and stand on their own feet. |
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Homing
By this stage the children have
become not only practical but also responsible persons. With
the money that has been put aside in the savings account and
together with a matching contribution from Ashalayam, the
children can buy a plot of land, build a modest house on it,
get married and start their own family.
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