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The Shocking Story...

Bangalore is India's IT success story, but there is another side: Over 25 per cent of the six million people of the city live in the slums. In addition, each year thousands of poor families from rural areas, trying to escape grinding poverty and unemployment, arrive in the city and live in the slums and open areas. Some get employment as daily labourers and others wander the city, often taking to begging, rag-picking and antisocial activities. Hired or contract labourers, with their families, pitch up tents or live in shanty towns near their working place. All live in a dangerous environment. They are often sick, usually illiterate and unskilled. Women and children are the most vulnerable; children in particular suffer the most without proper health care and education.

Our Response...

Janarupam was started as an Indian registered charity in 1997 to address the urgent needs of women, youth and children in the slum areas of Marathahalli region of Bangalore city. We started in a small way. With the help of some private individuals from the UK and the co-operation of local slum families we began a creche and preschool training so as to give their children a foundation for formal education. We thereby started to break the cycle whereby they were left to wander the streets and markets, often begging, sometimes being forced to work. We also started tailoring and embroidery vocational training for young women as a way of increasing their employment prospects and self esteem.

Creche Tailoring

In 2003, with the support of UK charities Just Trust and The Network for Social Change, we were able to considerably expand the work we had started with street and working children. Further funding from The Network enabled us to consolidate our work we had by then begun with the hundreds of migrant workers children in our area.

Now our main activities are supporting formal education of children; literacy to the wholly illiterate; pre-school programme; vocational training for women; health education and care; creative and recreational activities; youth programmes; community awareness and participation etc.