The child slaves of Hyderabad - behind the headlines

For the first time we are posting photos of some of the hundreds of Bihari children who attracted international media headlines when they were discovered by police working illegally under extremely harsh conditions in factories in Hyderabad. On Feb 21-26 SARTHI helped send 17 boys aged 8-17 back to their families. More children will follow.

Public media vividly described the ways the factories abused these boys -- but this is only part of the story. They were in Hyderabad because their impoverished families sent them there out of desperation, willingly selling them to traffickers. Thus, returning them to their parents is only part of the work. SARTHI's harder task will be to maintain contact with parents and encourage and assist them in sending these boys to school -- rather than yet another factory.