 Activities in India
 The Rainbow Center
Welcome
CCI chose India as the site of its first rehabilitation center because certain CCI members have extensive knowledge about Indian culture and society—CCI’s founder volunteered her time in an orphanage run by Child Haven in India, and CCI’s former president has been a tour operator specialized in India for almost 20 years. In June 2003, CCI opened the Rainbow Center in Andra Pradesh, India, with the help of a local NGO.
An ex child labour having fun
The Center is located on a magnificent two-acre wooded lot, where the children can play under the trees and attend classes outside. They are taught by two professionally-trained teachers and are required to take an annual exam to determine their grade level according to Indian standards. As well as receiving a basic education, they are given specialized training in the arts (theatre, play, dance and song). The Center is geared towards helping them overcome the psychological trauma they endured as bonded labourers. And depending on their interests, the children can also choose to learn a trade such as cabinetmaking, sewing or weaving. Furthermore, an experienced nurse provides medical attention on a weekly basis.
Where do they come from?
The children at the Rainbow Center come from the slums of the city of Vizianagaram or nearby fishing villages. The Vizianagaram slum-dwellers live in precarious conditions. Most of the adults work as rickshaw-pullers, construction workers or garbage rummagers. They are paid very little and have low social standing. Parents often have no choice but to send their children to work as domestic or hotel servants, fruit vendors, or as labourers on construction sites just to make ends meet. The children are separated from their parents for months at a time, live under very difficult conditions, and are often sexually violated by their employers.
The children are now curious about the worl they live in.
Reading the morning newspaper is an activity everyone is eager for!
The people from the surrounding fishing villages are also extremely poor. Employers are often solicited for loans, which must then be paid off by sending the young children to work. It takes years of hard work as fishermen, stone quarry labourers, and workers in shrimp plants just to reimburse the debt.
A boy from the center in an embroidery class.
In our centers, boys and girls alike gets the same training and participate in the same activities.
All these jobs are extremely hazardous to health. A study by a local NGO shows that 15% of child slaves end up handicapped. Many of the children who are sent to sea on fishing boats are either injured or drown. And the young girls who are forced to use toxic chemicals, without any protective gear, to clean the shrimp tanks end up with burnt lungs and a significantly reduced life expectancy.
Selection
How are the children selected?
- CCI works in collaboration with a local partner to evaluate the living and working conditions of children in specific regions.
- Also in collaboration with our local partner and community leaders, CCI identifies the children at the greatest risk-those in dangerous working environments and those most vulnerable to physical or sexual abuse. CCI also takes into consideration the family's situation and needs (single mothers, ill or handicapped parents, etc.).
- The selection criteria are based strictly on need, regardless of sex, race, religion or caste.
© David Pinzer
Family Support
Families send their children to work for reasons of survival. To compensate them for lost income, CCI provides families with financial support. In return, parents must attend monthly meetings designed to teach them the dangers of forced child labour. Getting parents to become aware of this problem is a major concern for CCI. CCI hopes to empower parents to become advocates for children’s rights, and also hopes that this increased awareness will have a positive effect on the entire population. For example, after having been made aware of this issue for more than two years, some parents in the village where the Rainbow Center is located recently negotiated the release of their own children.
A group of marginalized women that are part of a micro-credit group, a CCI initiative being part of the child labour prevention program.
RES, partner organization
The children from the Rainbow Centre are managed in collaboration with RES, our local partner. (more details cming soon)
The Future
With your help, CCI plans to open other rehabilitation centers throughout the different communities in India and the world.
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