OUTREACH ONSITE : A Brief 

OUTREACH was established in May l993 in response to the needs of communities living in drought prone areas in South India and also to the growing need for training in the NGO sector and within Government. The idea was to focus on small NGOs working in drought prone regions in South India, particularly those engaged in Natural Resource Management type of activities such as Wastelands development, micro watershed development, forestry & agro forestry, tank rehabilitation and so on. This was done with a view towards enhancing their capabilities and effectiveness as development organisations. In order to demonstrate how the quality of life of poor communities living in these areas could be enhanced, OUTREACH established 8 direct projects and at the same time linked up with a number of small NGOs who were also involved in addressing the issue of poverty in drought prone regions. This has led to its establishment as leading Non Governmental Development Organisation (NGDO) in South India. Primarily the organisation has been able to establish a good standing with Government Donor Organisations, NGOs & other institutions working in the 3 Southern States of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and other parts of India.

Over seven years ago, a situation arose in Bangalore City that demanded immediate action by committed people with vision. Thousands of migrants from the drought prone areas of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, living in conditions of appalling poverty, without food, drinking water and the basic necessities of existence, flocked to the city in an attempt to make a sustainable living. Unfortunately, handicapped by lack of education or any other skills, they were forced to work as labourers doing physical work.
In order to tackle this problem, the OUTREACH ONSITE program for the children of migrant construction workers, was launched in 1993. Day Care Centers were established at the construction sites, with trained teachers to provide primary education for the children. The children received a balanced, nutritive diet in the form of breakfasts and lunches. Regular visits by health workers and doctors to centers provide the children and their families with necessary health care facilities.
Since its inception, OUTREACH ONSITE has opened over 15 Day Care Centers, from where over 5000 children have passed out in the last several years. At present, there are nearly 1000 children in the centers.
On completion of their stay at the Day Care Centers, the children are sent to either residential schools or vocational training institutes to learn various skills. These skills include tailoring, typing, domestic work, carpentry and for the older children, training in mechanical skills, drivers, operators, electricians, plumbers etc. Certificates are awarded to those who have finished their courses and suitable placements are found for them.OUTREACH ONSITE is the only voluntary organization in Karnataka to address the issue of migrant construction workers' children and is working towards making them healthy, economically self reliant and socially responsible citizens who can, in the future, become a part of the mainstream society.
In many respects, Bangalore, the fast growing `Silicon City' of the country, offered them many opportunities for employment. Skyscrapers for office buildings, vast apartment blocks for residences and supermarkets were being built even in the far flung areas of the city, to cope with the exodus of industries, the executives and workers and subsidiary facilities to cater to their needs. However, while the migrant workers strove to eke out a living, their children proved to be the worst sufferers. Transplanted from their quiet villages to the rush and bustle of a large and busy city, they were wholly neglected, as their parents were busy at work. They grew up unattended, exposed to the danger of severe accidents, without any facilities for education, proper nutrition, hygiene or healthcare facilities.
What future do these children have? Illiterate, lacking in any skills, brought up in an atmosphere devoid of love and very often abused, they will either become construction workers like their parents,easy prey for traffickers in women and children to become sex workers and underpaid, ill treated children, beggars, rag pickers, thieves, oreven worse, join criminal gangs dealing in extortion, robbery, assault or even murder.
Living in overflowing, filthy slums that pose a health hazard, breeding grounds for many epidemic diseases, they are also a drain on the city's infrastructural capabilities, with the crime statistics rising at an alarming rate. Even today, many people have no other choice but to live in one of the many slum areas in Bangalore.
A fast growing menace that affects every resident and calls for urgent action by every socially responsible citizen in Bangalore!
OUTREACH ONSITE is deeply indebted to SKIP - Stiftung Kinderdorf Pestalozzi for their consistent and unfailing support and encouragement, especially in the area of Vocational Training.In today's affluent society it becomes easy to forget that there are people less fortunate…people who are illiterate, starving, and very often exploited by the members of a harsh and uncaring world. The worst affected are the hundreds of thousands of children living in appalling squalor, in the constant shadow of the fears of starvation, mental and physical abuse and exploitation. So, they continue to live, without recourse to the law or supportive agencies, as they lack the ability or confidence to raise their voices against the injustices inflicted upon them.

A Convention on the Rights of the Child was held by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 20. November 1989, to address this particular problem whose provisions are particularly relevant to India, as the rural population migrating to cities in search of employment, is growing at an accelerated pace.Today, there are 100,000 migrant construction workers children living in Bangalore.

The construction workers children at the Day Care Centers are given a simple and nutritious breakfast and lunch. Health workers and doctors visit the centers regularly to ensure that the children are in good health, often referring them to nearby hospitals. A premier hospital in the city has offered to treat all referrals from the Day Care Centers, free of charge. Immunization camps and awareness camps on health and hygiene, AIDS and family planning are also conducted for the benefit of the children and their parents.

Children living on a construction site have little opportunity to attend school, owing to the long distances between the sites and schools. Their parents are not in a position to leave and pick them up from schools, as it cuts into their working hours. Another impeding factor is the mobility of the workers from one site to another, on completion of their work requiring children to shift any educational centers they may be attending.
At OUTREACH ONSITE Day Care Centers, trained teachers assisted by helpers, instruct them in the basics of primary education like reading, writing and communicative skills, taught in an informal and interactive manner between 9.30 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. The recreational aspect of the children's education includes narration of stories, action songs, outdoor visits to nearby parks, temples and places of educational interest.
These are only some provisions adopted at the Geneva Convention, which are sought to be addressed by OUTREACH ONSITE. They also need to be addressed by society, to build a better future for thousands of disadvantaged children.

Today, there are 250,000 migrant construction workers children living in Bangalore!!!!

Is there anyone there listening, anyone who cares?

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