The Freedom Project India (TFPI), a city-based social justice agency, has been working among the underprivileged since 2013 to improve the outcomes for families, including children, youth and women, from vulnerable communities.
The NGO has taken a different route for their outreach by rescuing hundreds of youngsters through sports. It is also instrumental in fighting the menace of human trafficking and has rescued over 250 women and children in and around the city. It is now surveying and observing close to 400 children, possibly victims of child trafficking, who are begging on the streets in different parts of the city.
Sports for Life
One of its flagship initiatives, Sports for Life (SFL), reaches out to vulnerable boys from the streets who are often the likely target of the illegal labour industry, which pushes them into begging, running brothels and pimping. The idea for the programme occurred in 2004 when the team behind TFPI was part of another NGO.
TFPI CEO Anita Kanaiya said that the idea was mooted by Mr Satyaraj, the former goalkeeper of the Karnataka police team which won the national championship. He showed interest in coaching children from needy backgrounds. “This programme has grown now and is a major solution to keep young boys away from drug abuse and to prevent them from dropping out of school.”
“Over time, SFL has also provided various career options to these children. They have taken up the sport professionally by playing for clubs and some of them have even become FIFA-approved referees and coaches for various clubs and teams,” she said.
Now, over 700 boys attend daily football coaching classes at seven different locations, including Jayamahal, Pulikeshi Nagar, East Railway Station area, Banaswadi and Mathikere. The programme focuses on boys from migrant settlements at various slums in the city. “Three teams from the programme feature in different football leagues, including the Bangalore Super Division. The coaches follow up the boys’ attendance at schools during the day and link them to their parents and communities after evening coaching sessions. We also took up a massive Aadhaar enrolment drive earlier this year, and over 650 people signed up for their Aadhaar cards,” she said.
“Many boys, who were part of the programme, have now become breadwinners for their families. They keep us inspired. The project team of coaches and counsellors works with the families to improve their employability,” she said.
Busting sex trafficking rackets
To rescue and rehabilitate girls and young women from trafficking and sex rackets, TFPI provides information on such rackets to the police regularly. In the latest incident, the team reported a brothel being run close to two schools at Lingarajapuram.
The rescued women are given shelter at Azaadi Home, run by the NGO, at Kothanur. A two-year programme is offered to such victims to encourage them to earn their own livelihood and to overcome their traumas.
“The first three months of the programme provides them exposure to skill-development programmes, including English language training, computer training and home grooming. They are also given an option to pick their interest, after which they are linked to professional institutes and training centres outside. Enquiries are done by the team to ensure that they are not trafficked back by the consent of their families,” said Ms Kanaiya. At present, nine inmates and their four children are at Azaadi Home.
Revealing how brothels are run from rented houses in residential areas in the city, including Indiranagar, Shantinagar and Hennur Cross, she said that online trafficking websites contribute to the menace. “These victims go through intense abuse. Some of them have told us that officers from local police stations too were their customers, and this many a time prevented them from speaking out,” Ms Kanaiya said.
The NGO is running a social enterprise, A Thousand Cranes, where baking cooperatives are set up to help such women sell cupcakes. These beneficiaries are exposed to production, packaging and sales of their products.
TFPI was instrumental in forming the high-powered committee by the state government after the Anti-Trafficking Bill was passed recently. It is now working with four other NGOs in preparing a comprehensive document, Karnataka State Standard Operating Procedure on Human Trafficking, which is expected to be rolled out by the Women and Child Department by this month-end.
