Mary Mushi, Safeguarding and Technical Lead in Tanzania, shares insights from her recent visit to India.
Date: 27th February 2025
The main reasons children end up on the streets are the same across both countries – abuse, neglect and poverty. When I visited India though, I also saw that online dating and early marriage also often cause children to run away. That doesn’t happen so much in Tanzania.
The families I visited while I was in India were very welcoming and open to our support – much as the families in Tanzania are. And, of course, in both countries our family workers are respectful, empathetic and passionate about what they do.
Families are families wherever you are – the approach we have to our family work makes a difference whatever context you are working in.
In Tanzania, we’ve been using a therapeutic model for our family work for many years, and it’s seen great results. In India, family work is an area that is still developing. So, after the India team visited our work in Tanzania and saw our family work in action, they were keen for colleagues in India to understand and replicate this approach. By visiting each other’s projects and sharing our experiences, we’re more effective than if we worked alone.
First, we build a relationship with the family and carry out an assessment to ensure we fully understand the family’s situation. Often, parents will have experienced trauma which affects their experience of parenting.
After the relationship has been built, family workers can help set goals to support family members and process their experiences. After that, it’s about helping the whole family heal, build positive relationships and support each other, and to come up with goals they can meet together.
That’s why, as well as sharing insights across India and Tanzania, we’re also developing our family-based work in the UK, because we know that, the more positive relationships are at home, the happier children will be – enabling them to build a future in which they can thrive.
More than 270 participants took on two iconic mountain challenges this summer, raising an incredible £252,546 to help vulnerable children in the UK, India and Tanzania.
More than 1,000 children learn vital skills at Leeds Station Safety Week. The flagship safety initiative – now in its 10th year – got under way at the station on Monday 15 June and runs to Friday 19 June during Rail Safety Week (15-21 June).
In a recent report, more than 40% of people said they wouldn’t know what to do if they spotted a child at risk at a train station. * That’s a statistic that Railway Children’s new interactive game, Seconds to Safety, is here to change.
Subira is a family project worker for Railway Children in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Here is an exploration of her work and the impact that it has as she supports street-connected children and reunites families.
Learn about safeguarding and how it relates to child protection on transport networks.
No child wants to survive on the streets. And, through understanding and empowerment, together, we can ensure no child has to.
