Women and children at risk of being exploited
The city of Hojai is an important producer of consumer goods and an emerging centre for information technology. In the surrounding areas, agriculture plays an important role: rice, sugar-cane, mustard and vegetables are grown.
The north-east of India has not been as economically successful as other parts of the country, and reports suggest that the state of Assam is amongst the poorest. According to some estimates poverty has actually increased in recent years.
Poverty is particularly high in rural areas, where most inhabitants are involved in agriculture. The people living in these rural areas have poor access to basic infrastructure (such as sanitation facilities and clean drinking water) and to adequate health care.
Women and children are the first to suffer the consequences of the high unemployment and poverty levels and the political unrest. Many struggle to survive, finding it hard to scrape together a living. Children are often not sent to school because their parents cannot afford it; instead they have to work in order to raise the family income.
Human trafficking is a problem in the area, as people fall for the false promises of traffickers. Women and girls are particularly vulnerable to abuse due to their weak position in society. They often end up working as commercial sex workers or under exploitative conditions as domestic workers.
Supporting those in need
SOS Children's Villages works closely with local agencies to identify families who are in need and then provide them with the support they require in order to improve their lives. Furthermore we provide children who can no longer live with their families with family-based care, run a kindergarten and programmes for young people to prepare them for adult life.
What we do in Hojai
When children can no longer stay with their families, they can find a loving home with one of the 20 SOS families, where they grow up with their sisters and brothers. The children attend the local schools thus making friends with children from neighbouring families and integrating into the community. The children are involved in after-school activities such as learning how to play a musical instrument or doing sports. When needed, the SOS Kindergarten can also provide day care for young children.
When the young adults are ready to leave their SOS families they can join our SOS Youth Programmes in Sibsagar, Nagaon and Hojai itself. With the support of qualified professionals they are guided through this new stage of their lives, as they start vocational training courses, attend higher education and look for work. The young people are encouraged to develop perspectives for their future, learn to shoulder responsibility and increasingly make their own decisions.