Children like Shalina, who can’t stay with their families on the streets, can live safely at Karunalaya children’s centre, which has been supported by Rosi Gollmann and Andheri-Hilfe for 15 years. The children receive education, life-skill training, support and love. And they get to play football!

Shalina says: “I grew up on the street with my family. My parents worked all day long as trash pickers. My father used to promise my mother: ‘I’ll go and buy food’. Then he wouldn’t come home for hours, and when he did appear he was drunk. All the money had gone on booze. Over and over again, my little brother and I didn’t get any food, just water.

One day my mother found lots of money when she was collecting trash. She didn’t want my father to take it, so she asked a neighbour, a young man, to keep it safe. Instead, he spent all the money and said to my mother: ‘Give me your daughter then maybe I’ll pay.’ My mother was so desperate she agreed. Then I ran away and found safety here at the children’s centre. After a month, my mother found out where I was and came to visit me. She said: ‘Forgive me. Stay here and go to school.”

Wants to be a doctor
“I had never gone to school, so first I had to learn to read and write. Now I’m in Year 9 and doing well. I like being able to read the newspaper and find out what’s happening in the world. Sometimes I get angry, especially when I read about girls being beaten and raped. One girl even got attacked by police officers, who should have been protecting her! Girls and boys should work together and help one another instead.

My dream is to become a doctor and help poor people for free. When I lived on the street and got sick, there was never any mention of me going to the doctor, I just lay there. Lots of people die because they can’t afford medicine. I plan to change that!”