Shillong, Dec. 17: As the season of hope fills the winter air, hundreds of abandoned, orphaned and destitute children who have found shelter in homes far away from their own, converged here today to revel in the Christmas spirit.
U Soso Tham auditorium was decked up to celebrate the theme Christmas, My Child, is Love in Action.
For many of the children who came from government and private-run children homes across the Khasi-Jaintia Hills, the rendezvous at the auditorium was a novelty. It was also for the first time that the Meghalaya social welfare department organised such a pre-Christmas celebration for them.
The children are among the 1,510 who are in childcare institutions across Meghalaya.
As of June this year, of these 1,510, 1,393 are in children's homes, 35 in shelter homes and 182 in observation homes.
These children are in 22 homes run by the government and 58 by NGOs who are registered under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000.
The celebration was organised by the State Child Protection Society in collaboration with the District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) and Integrated Child Protection Schemes (ICPS) of the social welfare department.
While the children were entertained with music, skit and mime show, a group of them hailing from one of the government-run homes rendered the song We are the World.
Meghalaya social welfare director H.M. Shangpliang said most of these children are either orphans or destitute.
The respective child welfare committees in the different districts of the state forward children in need of care and protection to such homes.
Speaking to reporters, SOS Children's Village Shillong director Anoop Singh said majority of the children in childcare institutions are those who have been abandoned.
"From a group of 100, at least 60 are abandoned while the remaining are orphans," Singh said. The village has around 200 children.
To a query, he said one of the reasons for the increase in the number of such children is because if the mother dies, the father abandons the child.
He also said non-registration of marriages and teenage pregnancies are some of the other factors.
Social welfare minister Deborah C. Marak said today's occasion was a platform for the children to interact and share their experiences. Acknowledging the work being done by the caretakers of the childcare institutions, she said their selfless service towards the children was commendable, adding that the children received the love and care they deserved.
"They are instrumental in ensuring these little angels the right to survival, development, protection and participation," she added.
But Marak was upfront in sending a message to society by arguing that during Christmas, it was time to "decorate" the hearts of these children, and not just homes.
A cross-section of children who attended the gathering said it was the first time they had participated in such a celebration.
The children, who are in different schools, also shared their hopes and dreams. Some expressed the dream of becoming doctors while others dream of joining the army and the field of evangelism.
With the Christmas spirit much in evidence, for these children "love in action" is indeed what they need and deserve.
And, like the song We are the World, they are the "world", the "children".
