Fashion icon boards the service train

Colin Mathura- Jeffree, Goodwill Ambassador for Railway Children

If this story does not move you, nothing else will.

When Joanne Whittles, a ‘Railway Children’ (Charity) volunteer found the dead body of a three-year old girl at the Victoria Terminus (now called Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus) platform in Mumbai, she became sick.

The part-decomposed and rat-eaten body had become an object of play for some urchins.

She took the body to the Police but they were unhelpful.

“Throw that body away and do not get involved,” they advised her.

Joanne buried the body at a nearby cemetery with the help of a few volunteers of Railway Children Charity (UK), with whom she had been working for about two years.

But the incident, which happened five months ago, shook her faith in the Indian law enforcement system. She was also appalled by people’s apathy.

She decided to end it all and return to Adelaide in Australia where she is pursuing her PhD in Bio-Chemistry.

Back at a hotel in South Mumbai, she told the receptionist that she would be leaving the following day.

But Love Has No Language, a film running on in-house television starring Colin Mathura-Jeffree changed her mind.

“Somehow, Colin appealed to me as a person who could make a difference to my involvement in the ‘Railway Children’ project. I had never heard about him, but felt that he was a man of compassion. He was a celebrity and hence I was not sure if he would have the time and the inclination to help,” she told Indian Newslink during her visit to Auckland last week.

Joanne established contact with Colin through Facebook and everything later worked out like a dream.

She later went back to the cemetery where she had buried the unknown child and wrote, “Love Has No Language” on her tomb.

“It sounded very appropriate,” she said.

Compassionate and Responsible

Those who know Colin as a judge in the New Zealand’s Next Top Model (on TV3), a popular model and choreographer and a judge at the annual Miss Indianz Beauty Pageant may not know the softer side of the man.

We have known Colin to be a compassionate and down-to-earth individual, ready to roll up his sleeves for social and community work.

Railway Children appealed to him instantly and several emails and phone calls later, he accepted Joanne’s invitation to be the Project’s Goodwill Ambassador worldwide, with a special emphasis on India.

“I am committed to give whatever I can, in terms of time, effort and perhaps some money for the sake of those unfortunate children. ‘Railway Children’ needs sincere volunteers and anyone can help; everyone should,” he said.

Colin has decided to forfeit some of his TV3 time to visit India and work for the Project.

“My heart is in Mumbai. With a train carrying at least one or two vulnerable children arriving at the VT every six minutes, there is plenty of work to do. These children need instant help if they are not to fall victims to drug lords, beggar lords and equally bad, overseas terrorist groups,” he said.

Conservative estimates suggest that about 87,000 children were rescued at railway platforms in India last year; it is a staggering thought that the actual number of children who went astray could be several times higher.

Joanne said apart from India, ‘Railway Children’ has been reaching out to street children around the world for more than a decade, with projects in the UK and East Africa.

“As an organisation, our primary aim is to change the lives of children living on the streets. Our three-step ‘Change Agenda’ embodies our vision of real change being achieved through success in three interwoven, inextricable areas,” she said.

These include meeting their immediate needs, shifting perception in the local context and holding Governments responsible.

“The reality is that most street children need help to meet their basic human needs: food, shelter, and protection. Early intervention is absolutely critical to prevent a child being swallowed by the streets,” Joanne said.

If you are now moved and keen on offering your best, visit www.railwaychildren.org.uk