16-year-old Raqib was found by our outreach team at Delhi Sarai Rohilla Railway Station in a desolate state. He looked visibly nervous and unhappy and at first he refused to communicate properly with the team. But they persevered with counselling and reassuring Raqib until he began to trust them and finally told them where he had come from.
His family lived in Uttarakhand, but Raqib had run away from his mother while they were on a pilgrimage. The RCI team got in touch with authorities local to Raqib’s family and found that he had been reported missing and that they were looking for him. While they tried to contact the family, Raqib stayed at our open shelter. But here he was a loner, becoming angry and aggressive and not willing to listen to anyone. He was destructive, tried to break the door of the shelter and sometimes became aggressive towards staff and other children.

But the team didn’t give up – they continued to comfort him and engage him with different activities such as meditation and music and eventually their efforts paid off. Raqib started to calm down, opened up about his experiences and was eventually reunited with his family. They were supported and helped to give Raqib the extra love, care and attention he needed and he is now happy with his family and is continuing his education in school.