The total population of Vijayawada City and its rural area is around 1.7 Million, of which nearly 80 percent of them are agricultural laborers, road pavers, rickshaw pullers and tribal people. They usually have large families and they live under one roof in small huts, which is barely sufficient. Their income are usually very low and they face difficulties in securing the basic necessities in their life. In the villages and rural areas, agricultural laborers work for only six to eight months. After harvest, when the monsoon season arrive, they will migrate to towns to work as daily laborers for a duration of six months. However, unemployment is high among some of these
families and they have to struggle for their livelihood. 
Thus, their children, some as young as 8 years old, are forced to work as child laborers in construction places and city markets, while some of them are made to beg around market centres, bus centres, and
railway stations for food and money. Others are forced into prostitution, pick pocketing, street gangs and some are even abandoned by their parents. |
ChampionKids is an initiative of Youth TransformNations, a non-profit organisation that seeks to empower the youth around the world to transform their generation. In partnership with Help in Action Ministries (a registered society in Vijayawada, India), ChampionKids have been running a children's home in Andhra Pradesh, India since 2008. The children are either orphans or at risk due to their family situation.
These children under our care are daily ensured by Help In Action Ministries to have proper food, enough clothing and suitable shelter. Everyday they also receive education through Jireh English Medium School.
80-90% of children in India attend public schools where the medium of education is a local dialect. This is a great disadvantage in our globalized, interconnected world. In 2010, Jireh English Medium School was started with the goal of providing a Christian, English-medium education to the 50 children in the home, to empower them with the values and skills that will give them a hope and a future. As the school develops, we hope it will eventually become a centre of education for the rest of the community. |
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