Empowering children through sports, education in exchange for plastic waste—changemakers leave an impactful trail

Street Child United, a UK-based organisation, has been empowering children from streets across the globe through cricket and football championships.

John Wroe co-founded the organisation in 2011, inspired by a chance encounter with a boy on the streets of Bangladesh. The boy told him, "People treated him like a human being when they saw him on the field playing football, compared to off the field, where he was just a homeless child."

Since then, the organisation has been hosting football championships. It also organised its first cricket tournament in 2019 at Cambridge. The second edition of the Street Child Cricket World Cup was held between September 23 and 30 this year.

Besides India and Bangladesh, Brazil, Burundi, England, Hungary, Mauritius, Mexico, Nepal, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Sri Lanka, and Zimbabwe took part in the tournament this year. 

Seven mix-gendered teams from India—comprising three from Delhi and one each from Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Delhi—represented India at the Street Child Cricket World Cup this year. 

“We have been using sports to give these children access to education and protect them against all forms of violence—including gender-based," Wroe says. 

Read more about it here.

Building blocks for the future

Hailing from a family of cattle grazers, Ch Nageshu Patro was familiar with financial difficulties. He also had to leave his studies after class 10. However, with a dream to restart his education with his own money, he moved to Surat to work in a textile mill in 2016, and in 2011, he started working as a porter in Odisha.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Patro saw many kids from his village dropping out of school, which reminded him of his education struggles. He started a free study centre for these children as he didn't want them to suffer as he did.

Now, Patro works as a porter at Berhampur railway station at night and holds free coaching classes for underprivileged children during the day—6.30 am to 8.30 am, and from 5.30 pm to 7.30 pm, daily. 

At present, he teaches Odia to a batch of 70 students. He has also hired four teachers to teach Maths, English, Geography, and other subjects.

Plastic fee for education

Every Thursday, students of Akshar School in Guwahati, Assam, come bearing bags of plastic waste, including discarded bottles and wrappers. In exchange, the school offers them free education.

Founded in 2016 by Parmita Sarma and Mazin Mukhtar, Akshar School in Guwahati, Assam, teaches children to recycle plastic for construction projects like eco-bricks, plant guards, and other products. So far, the school has collected and recycled about 1,200 bottles and more than 640,000 plastic wrappers. 

The school follows the NIOS curriculum, offering flexibility and practical skills. Peer-to-peer teaching is encouraged, with senior students acting as teachers and receiving points for necessities. The school also provides vocational training, instils environmental awareness, and aims to expand its model to other schools, emphasising holistic development and sustainability.

Overcoming sexual trauma

Research indicates that a significant number of sexual trauma survivors employ a coping mechanism involving the mental suppression of traumatic memories.

This places a substantial burden on the body to process distressing events, resulting in a wide spectrum of adverse effects, including heightened muscle tension, chronic fatigue, and the development of enduring physical and mental health issues.

However, many trauma-informed psychotherapists are spreading awareness about sexual trauma and supporting people in reclaiming their lives. They discuss the significance of addressing sexual trauma in the context of gender, caste, and cultural factors.

Professionals in the field recommend that a targeted approach to addressing trauma aids mental health practitioners in facilitating the processing of distressing events and the enduring impact of trauma.

Trauma-informed psychotherapists and mental health professionals suggest somatic exercises, breathwork, trauma-centred movement, arts-based therapy, depth-oriented psychotherapy, psychodrama, and other methods to help survivors identify, heal, and recover from sexual trauma.

Meanwhile, in other socially relevant news…

Helping underprivileged women

Gynaecologist Dr Gogula Gouthami Reddy is working relentlessly to improve women’s health in Telangana. 

Through her Gouthami Foundation, she organises routine haemoglobin assessments and provides complimentary medication to normalise haemoglobin levels in women with irregular values. Additionally, she introduced a specialised mobile unit to address anaemia. The state government supports her efforts to assist disadvantaged women.

The mobile team visits rural regions and girls' hostels, conducting blood tests to assess haemoglobin levels. When a woman's haemoglobin dips below 12 g/dL, the foundation offers free medication. After a month, follow-up checks are conducted to monitor progress, a New Indian Express report said.

Her initiatives focus on helping underprivileged women who cannot afford such medical expenses.