The movie industry can play miracles. And these miracles can be even more meaningful if they happen to Indian street children. The rush in demand to sponsor Indian children thanks to the movie "Slumdog Millionaire" is so unprecedented that the NGO is rushing the contact details of scores of Indian children to its offices in the UK.
The Movie of a Life in Mumbai' Slums
"Slumdog Millionaire" portrays the life of a boy from Mumbai' slums to finding himself sitting on the chair of the Indian version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" and the chance to win 20 million rupees.
The movie had a real-life impact on the lives of millions of Indian orphans. “We’re calling it the slumdog effect. We haven’t seen such a high level of interest in one country for a long time” confirmed ActionAid’s fundraising director, Richard Turner.
On average ActionAid fields just over 500 enquiries a week for child sponsorship (http://www.actionaid.org.uk/100044/sponsor_a_child.html). In the week following the film's success the number of enquires increased to 1.400 and even more after the Oscar nominees.
Two of the young stars of the best picture winner, Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Ismail, will be rehoused and moved from their dilapidated housing, making India proud.
Richard Turner commented: "Child sponsorship has transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of children and is one of the most rewarding ways of giving."Sponsors' money helps towards securing a decent education, better health care and economic security for children and the communities in which they live."
Children and Poverty in India
India has a population of over 1 billion. A child is born every 2 seconds. According to recent statistics of UNICEF published on its website, nearly half of all Indian children are underweight. Life expectancy at birth is estimated to be 63 years. Among 1,000 live births, 74 children die under the age of five. Maternal deaths are still extremely high, placing India at rank 128 in the United Nations Human Development Report 2009.
Currently the country does not have any recordable statistics of the number of its street children but it is estimated that they number many millions. Many run away from home because victims of violence by family members.
Child labour, child trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation are only few of the many forms of violations of children's rights in India. With about 12.6 million children working, the country has the largest number of child labourers under the age of 14 in the world.
As confirmed by UNICEF, systematic data and information on child protection issues are not always available. Evidence has shown that children in need of special protection belong to communities suffering disadvantage and social exclusion such as casts and tribes, and the poor. Causes of concern remain the lack of available services, as well as the gaps persisting in law enforcement and in rehabilitation programs.
By portraying the life of a boy in the slums of Mumbai, "Slumdog Millionaire" contributed to raise global awareness on the silent crisis of Indian children.
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