World Street Children News

Street Children
No space or time for childhood
By Karima Rhanem     5/20/2005 | 4:23 pm GMT
       
Thousands of children are left on the streets to deal with their sorrows and harsh living conditions. Shattered dreams, abuse of all kinds and lack of affection are the only reality they know. The Morocco Times highlights the important factors that lead these children to be on the street.

On the busy streets of Casablanca, we met 15 year-old Abdellah, a street child with no family, hanging around Boulevard Mohammed V, begging. He looked desperate and hungry. “Give me a dirham, I am very hungry, I haven’t eaten since yesterday”. This is nothing unusual; there are thousands of street children living on the streets of Casablanca alone. You come across them everyday but your immediate reaction is to look away. You cannot explain your attitude; somehow, they make you feel uncomfortable, and guilty. You hurry away to avoid them. You don’t stop to ask yourself where they sleep, how they manage to keep themselves warm, or when they had their last meal.
    

	Street children playing next to the trash can.

Childhood should be the best period of one’s life. However, it’s not always the case for some kids. Thousands of children are left on the streets to deal with their sorrows and harsh living conditions. Shattered dreams, abuse of all kinds and lack of affection are the only reality they know. These children are often from divorced parents. They have suffered from extreme poverty and have experienced domestic violence and abuse. They feel abandoned and have lost all trust in adults. Moreover, they are seen merely as a nuisance or a menace, probably thieves and criminals. The general public’s treatment of them is to be rude and indifferent; their mistrust deepens.

According to “Bayti” (“My Home”), a Moroccan NGO specialized in helping children in difficult situations, the age of these street children ranges from 7 to 18.

There are multiple, interrelated factors that lead to children being on the streets. Some are direct such as domestic violence and abuse. However, most of the others are indirect and these include poverty and urbanization.For centuries, cities everywhere have held a magnetic attraction for rural inhabitants (The streets are paved with gold). Extreme poverty in rural areas makes this attraction irresistible, especially to children who see no hope and no future. Sadly, for the vast majority, the dream turns out to be a mirage. The harsh reality is that if you are poor and jobless in the city, you are nothing. The combination of being young, poor and unemployed leads to another cycle of violence and abuse to which can be added the further evil of exploitation. It is little wonder that children in such circumstances choose the street life as a refuge. Here they have one thing: a freedom of sorts.    

	A homeless child sleeping in the street.

 

At the end of the day, some, like Abdellah, do go home, but others sleep on the streets or at railway stations. At night, around the port of Casablanca, groups of young boys sleep on cartons or in doorways.

Rachid, a 13 year old boy joined Abdellah in conversation: “I take drugs to forget about my situation and to prevent myself from committing a crime. I’ve been caught by the police many times for hanging around here. My mom is a dirty prostitute. So, I escaped from home not to see men coming and going out of the house”.

For most of these children, the future is dark and unpromising. All that matters to them is day-to-day survival, something to eat, something to wear, and somewhere to sleep. There is no space or time for childhood. Every one of them has a different story. We had to give them money before they would even start listening to us. It was difficult to gain their trust; they lie automatically, and told us 4 or 5 stories before beginning to tell the truth.

Each one of these children imagines how normal childhood could be. Their dreams are shattered by the harsh reality of their lives. We heard dozens of stories from other children. That reminded us of Nabil Ayouch’s movie “Ali Zaoua”. The film tells the story of four street boys who have decided to go it alone without their families. This moving film graphically portrays the terrible and harsh reality of abandoned children and makes us painfully aware that there are thousands of Ali Zaouas in our country.

There are various programs designed to address the street children phenomenon in Morocco. Most of these programs have been set up and are run by voluntary and non-governmental organizations such as “Darna” in Tangier and “Bayti” in Casablanca (both express the notion of “My Home”, a shelter for abandoned children). Most of these organizations focus on remedial activities, such as the provision of crisis centres, education, job training, health care, and counselling. However, the ultimate goal is to reintegrate the children with their families wherever possible. Bayti, for example, targets children in difficult circumstances: street children, working children, abandoned children, juvenile delinquent and sexually exploited children. A multidisciplinary team including educators, social workers, doctors, psychologists, teachers, artists, and students collaborates with the organization.

• Formed specialist groups in education to work with these children

• Encouraged social and health protection; fought against illiteracy

• Encouraged families, particularly those who live in rural areas, to send their children to school, and they welcomed those who have failed in their studies

• Provided care centres for street children in different parts of Morocco

• Encouraged associations working in the field to increase their efforts to assist children in difficult situations.

However, in spite of all the efforts and programs aimed at addressing the phenomenon of street children, their needs are not fully met and their numbers are steadily increasing. The problems encountered with these programs in Morocco do not stem from a lack of initiative, but rather a lack of sufficient resources, including funding and trained staff. There is also a lack of good planning, a lack of organization and no clear government policies. Experts in the field said that no program can succeed unless it is based on a scientific assessment of the situation of the children, and unless consideration is given to their basic needs. Therefore, the government should:

NGO’s, on the other hand, should also increase awareness through publicity campaigns. People need to be made aware of the severe consequences of the phenomenon of street children in our society, and all Moroccan families should be made conscious of the danger of neglecting or abandoning their children.