“We were scared. We thought we would never be able to see our child.”

“We were scared. We thought we would never be able to see our child”, says Abhishek’s mother, her eyes brimming with tears.

Abhishek, 10 years, was a bright student studying in a private school and son of an army officer and a housewife. One sunny afternoon, when Abhishek was playing outside his house, a stranger passed by and struck a conversation with him. He then lured Abishek to join him on his way to the station. Apprehensive but curious, Abhishek followed this seemingly nice man and within a few moments had already boarded the train with him. As the train started to move, Abhishek realized a little too late that this man was tricking him and taking him away. Scared at the thought of losing his family and going with a stranger, Abhishek started thinking of ways to escape. Luckily the train stopped at the next station and a large crowd boarded the train. Taking his chance, Abhishek sprang out of the train. From there he got into another train and landed up at Lucknow the next morning. Alone and hungry, Abhishek was petrified.

Ehsaas (Railway Children Partner in Lucknow) peer group members were taking their usual outreach rounds at the station when they happened to notice a small boy sitting alone at the corner of the platform staircase and crying. The members immediately went to the child and gave him water and food to calm him down. From his clothes and looks, the members guessed that the child was from a middle class family. Once Abishek was relaxed, he told the members the ordeal that he had gone through and also gave phone number of his family member.

The Ehsaas team immediately contacted Abhishek and within no time he was reunited with his family. “We are very thankful to the Ehsaas team. We don’t think we can every repay them for what they have done for us”, says Abhishek’s father, his eyes filled with tears of gratitude.