A joyful reunion for Meera and her children

Anil, 13 years old, and Rajiv, 12, were travelling with their family when they got off the train at New Delhi railway station to get a drink of water, but before they had chance to get back on the train, it had gone.

“We saw the train moving, we ran behind it but could not run fast enough and could not climb back on. Our Ammi and Abbu [mother and father] did not know that we had stepped down off the train. As soon as the train left the platform, our hopes of going back to our family were gone.”

Desperate and scared, the two boys tried to ask passers-by for help, but people assumed they were begging.

They spent four days on railway platforms surviving this way, feeling more hopeless and hungrier by the day.

Luckily the station manager knew of Railway Children, and called our outreach team for support. Thanks to this intervention we were able to find Anil and Rajiv before someone else did.

After three long days we were able to track down their family and the boys were finally reunited with their parents after a stressful week apart.

Their mother, Meera, was overjoyed to hear that her children safe, and was so thankful to all the people who helped keep the boys safe and reunite her with them.