ASRITHA Rainbow Home
Rainbow Homes offer care, security and support.
Managed by our partner ARUN, the ASRITHA Rainbow Home cares for girls who have been living on the streets of Hyderabad.
- It is estimated there are more than 36,000 ‘street children’ in Hyderabad.
- These children are at huge danger of being exploited.
- They often work as ‘rag pickers’ or beggars in unsafe and risky environments.
Rainbow Home’s ‘social mobiliser’ (social worker) helps girls move off of the streets.
When they first arrive at the home, the girls take part in ‘Bridge courses’ – designed to ‘bridge the gap’ between their lives on the streets and settling in to their new, safe and welcoming environment in the home.
- Bridge courses involve enhanced nutrition, basic education and social skills.
- They help the girls to recover their health, and to begin catching up and integrating with other children.
The Rainbow Homes ‘model’ (way of working) includes converting unused rooms in government buildings for their work.
- The ASRITHA Rainbow Home is located in the Doodhbowli area Government primary school building.
- Our partners have converted unused rooms above the classrooms to feed, house and educate the girls.
- This is a great example of mutual benefit: the unused space is put to good use and ASRITHA has the rooms it needs.
- Using this unique partnership model, ARUN has successfully established 54 Rainbow Homes across India, caring for more than 4,120 children.
- They are recognised by the Indian Government and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences as a ‘best practice model’ of rescuing and rehabilitating street children.
- Their work produces excellent results – for example, more than 80% of Rainbow Home girls graduate from high school.
21 million primary aged children in India are deprived of basic education
UNICEF & UNESCO INSTITUTE for STATISTICS (UIS)