Mannu, a tiny child of 10 years belongs to Nibokabirpur, a very remote village far away from Banaras of Uttar Pradesh State. He is third in a row of six siblings of the family. His father works as a daily wage labour in a cement factory and mother is a home-maker. His father is the sole earning member in the family and the mouths are many, to feed. Mannu was studying in IIIrd standard in a Government school. Although the school was not functioning properly, he still continued to go to school. The reason was … the school used to provide mid-day meal to children. This was the only attraction for many other children like Mannu as they all belong to poverty-stricken families. The school stopped the mid-day meal programme and so Mannu also stopped going to school. At the very young age of 10, Mannu was asked to supplement the family’s income. The better option his parents thought was to send him to Mumbai (Bombay) to work with his maternal uncle. His uncle was a flower vendor. Things worked fast and Mannu reached Mumbai. After a few days, Mannu had seen the ugly face of his uncle who used to abuse and harass him. “Har choti si baat peh, Mama bahut gaali galoj karte the aur maarte bhi the” (for every small thing, my uncle used to abuse me in filthy language and used to beat me) said Mannu. Day-by-day the harassment by the uncle increased and Mannu could not bear it any more. He wanted to go to his parents but, the uncle did not send him. One fine day, without the knowledge of his uncle, Mannu left the home and reached the Railway station. He boarded a train, without ticket, thinking that it will take him to Banaras. He was very much tired and fell asleep. The next day morning when he woke up, to his surprise and shock he landed in another unknown place …Secunderabad. His struggle to survive started. Gradually, he picked up the street culture and learned to live on street. His life took another turn when he met the street educator of HCHW on the street. Mannu was not interested to go to home as the life on street looked good to him and hence, he was motivated to join the Child Development Centre of HCHW. Here, Mannu found a new world of happy living and joyous childhood. The constant counselling and motivation by the Counsellor made Mannu to think of his family again. He agreed to go back to his family. On 10th December 2004, Mannu was repatriated with his family. Mannu’s joy knew no boundaries when he saw his mother and other siblings. Tears rolled down on his cheeks. The same was with his mother

Girl Child Education
The Right to Education with special reference to the girl child education has been one of the key component while designing the programme itself. HCHW organized a number of sensitization programmes for parents, rallies and campaigns as well as motivation camps. As a result, 450 children have been enrolled into the regular schools seeking formal education. Among them, 200 girl children are under the sponsorship programme of HCHW.