Many dream of helping children in vulnerable situations, few are motivated enough to pursue this dream. One such gentleman who followed his desire to help children is Mr Rahim Shaik (Founder of Need Base India).
Born and raised in Raichur, Mr Rahim Shaik often saw young children left to fend for themselves near railway stations and crossings. Either the parents were inadequate; thus, begging on the streets or working as labourers.
This left a significant impact on Mr Rahim Shaik who was then pursuing his degree in commerce. After completing his education, Mr Rahim Shaik hose to work for these underprivileged children rather than settling with a 9-5 corporate job. He started his journey by joining a local NGO in Raichur. This NGO operated for the runaway children and helped in their rescue and rehabilitation. Mr Rahim Shaik worked here for more than 10 years and was an integral part of the core team that took this NGO to PAN India.
Also, working here gave Mr Rahim Shaik a good insight into the lives of street children. He observed that reuniting children with their families wasn’t always the remedy. He noticed that in some cases, there were parents who were indifferent to their children, and the home environment was not suitable enough.
He also came across families who had no means to support or provide their children with a decent livelihood.
Mr Rahim Shaik pent a lot of time contemplating and analysing these issues. The result of his reflections made the development of Need Base India (NBI) a possible venture.
Founded in December 2009 in Koppal, NBI aims at helping all those children living under the most dreadful and uncertain situations. The organization runs shelter homes in the city of Bengaluru, Karnataka.
The primary objective of NBI is to provide holistic development, i.e. care and protection, health, education, life skills to all the children in their shelters. This way, the dream is to empower children in a way that they can contribute to the society and leave a positive influence on the communities.
In the pursuit of turning this dream into a reality, the first residential home for girls, called the ‘Rainbow Home’, was set up in December 2011 in Bengaluru.