Street children during the campaign on Tuesday. Picture by UB Photos

March 26: The hands that collect discarded plastic bags and bottles from the street to buy food and tubes of adhesives to get high picked up paintbrushes today.

As their hands produced strokes of colour, they hummed: “ suruj, suruj/Tomar pohore kore amak dhonno/Niraxar sthan iat sunno…” (Oh Sun, Oh Sun/ Your light blesses us/ There is no place for hopelessness).

Groups of children were seen painting at Six Mile, Guwahati railway station and Fancy Bazar today. Through their art they tried to say they were as gifted as their privileged counterparts but all they needed was an opportunity.

City-based NGO Lakshmi Kanta Das Memorial Kalabhumi carried out the campaign in association with the Assam State Commission for Protection of Child Rights and Axom Sarba Siksha Abhijan.

“Around 60 street children and equal numbers from a shelter home run by Snehalaya took part in today’s campaign. The way the street children painted houses, trees and a better world on a canvas and sang the song proved that they are equally talented like our children and they require our care. Education and a little help will make a difference to their lives. We brought some children who are already taking shelter in a home and being provided a education to show people how a little help can bring change to their lives,” said Madhusudhan Das, secretary of the NGO.

Popular Assamese actor Pranjal Saikia, sculptor Biren Singha joined the children and appealed to people to join the campaign to ensure every child goes to school.

“There are many children in our country who don’t go to school. We can make our life world better by sending all children to school,” Saikia said, speaking in the campaign at Six Mile in the city.

Das said a study by the NGO revealed that many children were getting involved in “bad activities” like sniffing adhesives.

“During my work with the street children, a three-year-old girl told me that she took Dendrite as she did not feel the bites of mosquitoes under the influence of adhesives. Similarly, a six-year-old boy told me that he took Dendrite to relieve the pain after being beaten up by police on the streets. These painful stories drove me to launch the campaign because we alone cannot make a difference to them,” Das said.

“We are providing better education to make our children doctors and engineers but if we do not care for those on the streets, one day they will grow up as criminals and break into our houses. So, we should all join hands and make sure that every child gets an education,” he added.