Looking Ahead

A year ago, Jammu and Kashmir woke up to an uncertain future. With more than a thousand dead and an equal number of houses destroyed in the Valley by the earthquake, even the Rs 500-crore Central aid did not seem enough to bring life back on track. Soon many others chipped in. Today, with the contributions received from The Indian Express, SOS-India supports 142 children in 44 single-parent mother families with education, health and nutrition for one year under its Family Strengthening Programme. Javeed Shah records a few glimpses of a silent turnaround

Offering a hand
SoS Children8217;s Village has a delicate task at hand, helping quake widows bring up the Valley8217;s GenNext
MAJID JAHANGIR

In their eyes, one can still see the devastation. A year later, as the Valley repairs broken homes, SoS Children8217;s Village is ensuring families that survived the devastation don8217;t give in. The NGO8217;s specific focus on children and widows is a crucial complement to the overall relief and rehabilitation task at hand.

In response to devastating earthquake October 8 last year in Jammu and Kashmir, SOS-India immediately started relief work in the worst affected areas of Uri in Baramulla district and Tangdhar in Kupwara disttrict and provided survival kits to families of widows on a need basis. Chield Relief Centres were set up to reach out to many hundreds of children.

Besides, SOS-India had extended support to schools in Uri which were badly damaged in the earthquake. To help restart the functioning of the schools, 500 children from these schools were provided with school bags, note books ans stationeries.

Simultaneously, they have been working with the community to identify children who have lost one or both parents and are in need of long-term care.

8220;After the quake, our main focus was to help those children who lost their parents,8221; says Ram Niwas Yadav, director of SoS Children8217;s Village in India. Yadav reached the villages two days after the quake struck on a mission that was cut out for the NGO 8212; ensuring that children who survived their families were taken care of and widows who were left to raise their children received adequate support and livelihood opportunities.

The SoS Children8217;s Village of Srinagar centred its activities around Uri and Tangdhar:

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8226; Two child care centres were opened at Sultandaki in Uri and Chokibal Tangdhar in December, 2005. The centres together cover around 500 orphans.

8226; Surveys were conducted to identify women who lost their husbands and were left to raise their children. SOS-India works with around 73 widows in Uri and 31 in Tangdhar to help them overcome the trauma and enable them financially.

8226; For almost a year now, widows have received Rs 500 per month for every child. The help will continue for three to five years until 8220;one member of the family is in a position to earn enough8221;, says Yadav.

8226; 300 family kits comprising blankets, warm clothing and utensils worth Rs 25,000 were distributed.

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SOS-India8217;s Family Strengthening Programme supports 244 children in 73 families. At the beginning of the programme, SOS-India provided survival kits consisting of essential family items including tin sheets, jute mats, pherans traditional kashmiri outfit and two to three pairs of new shoes to the families of 200 widows.