Seva Bharathi’s Madhava Awasam restores childhood

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It is really a matter of concern that the evil of child labour has still gripped the nation. Children who should run for catching butterflies in the garden are running from pillar to post in order to earn bread for their families. Seva Bharathi’s Madhava Awasam is the honest attempt to restore their childhood.

Madhava Awasam is the affection home for poor children that is run by Seva Bharathi since 2005 in Gollur (Rangareddy district, Andhra Pradesh). Initially, it was located in the lush green farms at Gollur, a small hamlet situated at a distance of 35 km from Hyderabad. Now the home has been shifted to Hyderabad city and is located in the heart of the old city of Hyderabad, Aliabad. At present, the home has 30 children. Seva Bharathi strives to make these children self-reliant by providing them training in various trades.
Unreliable agriculture that causes low yield because of monsoon failure is one of the main reasons for unemployment and poverty in the villages here. The first victims obviously are the little hands who have to quit the school and join their parents so as to earn for their family.
From Palmoor district in Western Andhra Pradesh, every year, a large number of people migrate to Mumbai in search of work. For children belonging to these families, Madhava Awasam is run. Children that come from various villages in the age group of 10 to 14 are studying here from class 4 to 8. These children are helping in cleaning of hostel, filling water and also in the cooking work. Children also run shakhas in three adjoining villages along with a weekly Sanskar Kendra.
A special class is organized on Sundays and holidays in which they are provided training in trades such as bicycle repairing, book binding, photo lamination, plumbing, candle making, house wiring, motor winding, screen printing, tailoring, scooter repairing, etc. During long vacations, students even go to the cities for receiving the advanced training. They manufacture candles in the hostel and sell those in the market.
Seva Bharati set out a thorough talent search exam to select the talented children caught in the clutches of child labour. Thanks to the efforts of volunteers from teaching fraternity and the Psychologists’ Association of Hyderabad along with Seva Bharathi, a thorough verification of the financial status was conducted.
One more thing that influenced the Seva Bharati volunteers is the fact that not less than 37% of the residential bridge school beneficiaries after mainstreaming, whatever the efforts of the volunteers involved are, end up back in child labour. To avoid this and bring childhood back to the children, Seva Bharati took up the task of providing rehabilitation and scholarship programme for children at least until class 10 board exams and depending upon their interest and talent later.
All four children have been selected from Seva Bharati’s rehabilitation homes for bravery awards by district administration headed by the District Collector. The children have performed extraordinary tasks of bravery. Madhava Awasam feels proud of its children as two of them are from Madhava Awasam.
Twelve year old Tikkala Ramesh from Kottapalli village, studying in class 6, scored first in Seva Bharati’s talent exam out of 2345 participants. He now stands first in the schools of Rangareddy and Mahaboobnagar districts. In recognition of his efforts in transforming himself & his studies he was selected for the award.
Fourteen year old Vamshi from Addakula village was picked up from Hyderabad railway station. He is known for his talents in sports such as long jump and high jump. He is a very good singer in classical Annamacharya keertanas and won prizes by TTD and stood first in competition. He scored first in Science Fair where he projected the ill affects of eco-degradation. He stood first in his class.
Contact:
Madhava Awasam
c/o Sri Saraswathy Vidya Mandir,
H No 18/3/463/1/182
Rajanna baavi,
Aliabad, old city,
Hyderabad-53
E-mail: sewabharathi@gmail.com
How to reach:
Gollur village is located at Maheshwaram Mandal in Rangareddy district.
By air: There is no airport at Rangareddy city. Nearest one is Hyderabad Airport at 68 km distance.
By rail: There is even no railway station at Rangareddy. Nearest railway station is Hyderabad at a distance of 79 km.
By road: Gollur is 38 km from Rangareddy and 34 km from Hyderabad.