World Street Children News

Embassy: Deporting won’t solve the problem

Kota Kinabalu: The Malaysian and Philippine governments will find a "concrete and creative" solution to the problem of street children being detained in Sabah.

Philippine Embassy Consul-General in Malaysia, Antonio Morales, said both countries had agreed to hold a technical meeting this month but it has been deferred on the request of Malaysian officials.

One of the major issues to be discussed was the plight of undocumented children detained in Sabah, Morales told Daily Express after meeting with several Filipinos detained at the Menggatal Temporary Detention Centre.

Morales managed to interview several detained street children to find out which province they were from and particulars of their parents or relatives back in the Philippines.

According to Morales, his embassy stopped issuing travel documents to those below 17 a few months ago because most of them did not know where to find their parents once sent back to Zamboanga, Philippines.

"This is our main problem now and it’s not that we don’t or refuse to provide travel documents. Some don’t even know how to speak any Philippine dialect so how are we to say they are Philippine nationals?" Morales asked.

He said a few hundred such children are now being housed at a temporary centre in Zamboanga and welfare officials are having difficulties locating their relatives.

He said these children were victims of circumstances in that either they were abandoned by their parents, or they are half Malaysian/Filipino or their parents were detained and deported to the Philippines while they were still small and left behind with their relatives.

"So when they grew up in Sabah they ended up becoming street children to support themselves selling all kinds merchandise. When they got caught they didn’t know even the names of their parents," said Morales.

He stressed that like Malaysia, the Philippine Government considered the issue a serious one because the future of the children is important as stated by Malaysian Home Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad.

He pointed out although the Malaysian authorities are trying their best to make the accommodation at the detention centre suitable for them it is definitely not the best place in the long term.

Morales hoped Sabah welfare authorities would separate these children from other detainees and teach them some skills or even some kind of education as is being proposed by the Indonesian authorities.

"We cannot solve their problem by just deporting them to the Philippines. There must be some humanitarian consideration accorded to these children while their fate is being considered by both governments."

On the issuance of travel documents to Filipinos detained at the Temporary Detention Centres in the State, Morales said: "We do it within two days at our office in Kuala Lumpur but some delays may occur in the post."

He said once Filipinos are detained, the Immigration Department would send to his office their particulars to facilitate the issuance of travel documents.

However delays may also occur when details provided by the immigration are not complete.

Zambia: Taking Street Kids Back to School

The Times of Zambia (Ndola)

March 30, 2006
Posted to the web March 30, 2006

Mercy Chewetu

AT a time when street children are renowned for perpetrating violence, 14-year-old Kennedy Kamanga of Lusaka should be a privileged boy to have left the streets and gone back to school.

Kennedy who lives with his two young brothers, a sister and an ailing mother in Kalingalinga township, is currently doing grade seven at Kalingalinga basic school and has vowed never to abandon school until his dream is fulfilled.

"I have gone back to school because I want to become a doctor some day," says the boy whose father died in 2001 before relatives descended on the hapless family to grab the property.

"When my father died, his relatives grabbed all our property and we were chased out of the house and I went to stay with my mother’s elder sister. This is because my mother had to go to the village with my young sister and brothers."

While at his aunt’s place, he was mistreated, beaten regularly and being forced to do household chores on an empty stomach. At times, he only had one meal in a day while the rest of the family members could have three meals per day.

"Because of mistreatment, I stopped school and I had no uniforms and no money to pay for my school fees. Hence, I decided to join my friends in the streets because they assured me that out there, a haven is provided for street kids with people giving money and food."

Kabulonga shopping complex in Lusaka was his place of refuge. There, he learnt survival skills. Everytime he saw someone walking out of the complex with a trolley of groceries, he would stretch his arms while maintaining a solemn expression on his face. Then the Good Samaritan would drop either food or money in his hands before walking off.

Tired and dirty from the endless food hunting missions, the night would come when shelter was needed.

There was nowhere the poor boy could lay his weary body as the fear of street life gripped him. He had no choice but to trot back to his aunt’s place despite the mistreatment.

He still remembers how hard street life was. Especially the beatings from the elder boys who got into the habit of grabbing things from the smaller boys.

Street life could be incomplete without one being introduced to the infamous sniffing of substances like glue in dirty bottles or sniffing dried human excretes in bottles. To this vice, Kennedy was not spared.

"After some months, my mother came back with my brothers and sisters. They found a house in Kalingalinga, but life was not easy because my mother started getting sick. Being the first born, I had to take care of my younger brothers and sisters," recalls the boy.

Tragedy befell their house. His 10-year-old young brother was sexually abused by an elderly woman within the township and got syphilis. The matter was reported to the police and the woman has since been jailed.

Later, Kennedy became the bread winner through stone crushing. He used to get K 1,000 per one full wheelbarrow in a day forcing him in the afternoon to go in the streets to earn some extra money. His family could then have a decent meal on the table the following day.

"One day I was at Kabulonga shopping complex when I saw a car trying to park at Melissa and two ladies whom I asked if I could guard their car in exchange for bread and which they agreed," he says.

It was this encounter that changed the status of the boy. His long-dwindled school dreams were rekindled as the two kind women offered to sponsor him back to school, having learnt that he was not only in need of temporal bread but an investment in education.

"When they came out from the shop, they gave me a loaf of bread and asked where I stayed and if I was interested in going back to school. I agreed and they promised to come back the following day."

The promise was honoured. After a week, a school place was found at Kalingalinga basic school in grade five.

The two ladies turned out to be Monica Eisenbeig, a personal development consultant and Charity Moola a fashion designer who is also a minister of the gospel.

One afternoon, the duo was back at Kabulonga shopping complex. And when a guard asked them what name to write on the receipt, they told him to write ‘Back to School’ because they saw children going back to school.

After the school holiday, they eventually decided to form an organisation called Back to School Education Centre in Kabulonga.

The organisation was eventually born in November 2004 as a private initiative to help vulnerable children found on the streets to go back to school.

In the long run, it is expected to help transform the children into better citizens as they fulfill their dreams for a better tomorrow.

"Right now, I eat three meals just like any other kid and I know how to read and write because ‘Back to School Education Centre’ offers me extra lessons when I knock off from school."

Being on the streets does not mean one cannot be what they dream of in life. Everyone can realise their dreams, if only they could get just a little bit of help.

Ms Eisenbeig says the organisation supports children who are single or double orphans and because their families cannot afford to feed and take them to school.

Currently, the organisation has two children who are in grade 12 while others are in grade 10 with a good number doing their lower grades.

She said most of the kids found on the streets are as a result of losing one or both parents. The children between the ages of six and 18 years are exposed to different kinds of abuse including drug and sexual.

And Charity Moola says children need special affection for them to feel loved and cared for because the kids on the street are gifted with different talents and each one of them is different.

While some children resort to begging on the streets as a result of hunger, others end up on the streets because of they lack anyone to help them or any shoulder to cry on.

"We try to instill a sense of traditional values and respect in the children so that they can understand where they are coming from," said Ms Moola.

Although the two women consider themselves as parents, they still face a lot of difficulties and challenges in handling the children. One explanation is that by virtue of coming from the streets the boys are usually rude, aggressive and dishonest.

And since the organisation has been discouraging children from begging, it would only be proper to ensure its programmes are not donor-funded. And that is what has been happening.

Ms Moola says the organisation does not want to depend on donors because it wants to set an example to the children and society that begging is not a solution to one’s problems.

The children are taught on behavioral change, self-care and hygiene so that they do not get diseases like cholera and bilharzia which are common in the townships.

They are also encouraged to compete within themselves and not with others if they are to succeed in life because determination comes from within oneself.

Only if they compete within themselves shall they be able to realise their full potential!

Street kids find refuge and hope in Pattaya
by Weena Kowitwanij

Run by Sister Woranuch Pranomjit, the Redemptorist centre is home to more than 150 children and teenagers. Thanks to it, they get food and shelter but also an education for the future.

Pattaya (AsiaNews) – More than a 150 kids have found a refuge in the Redemptorist Street Kids Home in Pattaya, a tourist resort area well known for its nightlife in Chonbury province. The youth centre is run by Sister Woranuch Pranomjit.

“These kids have had no luck,” the Sister said. “They should be the responsibility of their families and society. They should be helped to build a better future for themselves and develop their physical and mental skills to become honest and respectable citizens. This is why we hold ethics classes every day in the centre.”

“We gave them shelter and send them 18 different local schools based on their aptitudes,” she added. “A bus takes them to each every day.

“We do this for them,” she explained, “until they complete their education to enable them to build a professional future and become self-sufficient. Currently, two of our kids have gone to university. When they graduate, if they want, they can go back to their families.”

“Food, a roof over the head and health are the kids’ priorities,” noted Suchart Suthinak, a psychologist who works with the centre, “then comes a better quality of life through professional training.”

For him “it is important that the children and teenagers work [with the centre] and participate in their own development; otherwise, they might go back to what they were doing outside the centre”.

“Many kids come from Bangkok and arrive with a lot of problems, but in Pattaya they can survive,” Suthinak said. “They come with family problems, after fights, or are involved in sex, prostitution, law-breaking, drugs, HIV infections, pregnancies, abortions; problems caused by society’s and the authorities’ neglect.”

Yet, for Suwannee Sap-paem, who teaches at the centre, “it doesn’t matter how well they are at the centre, this ‘home’ cannot replace the love they might have had from their families”.

“I have been living at the Redemptoris home for 13 years,” said a girl. “My parents split up and my mom’s new husband is very stern. Quarrels are frequent. I left home and found a job at a Pattaya club. Here I had some problems with some of the other employees and so I decided to come to the centre and meet Suthinak. Now I am studying to become a hairdresser and hope I can make a living with this trade.”

The Redemptoris Street Kids Home was founded in 1989 and now houses more than 150 children, aged 5 to 19 years.

Children not kept safe

Not only is the social system failing Pretoria’s estimated three thousand street children, but the community is also keeping them on the streets. These are some of the comments that followed an article that appeared in Rekord last week, exposing how females, referred to as ‘stout madams’ by the boys, are paying street boys good money for special favours.

“The street children are the future of this country but as long as the community gives them money, food or clothes, they will stay on the streets and develop into habitual criminals when they grow up,” says Tahiyya Hassim, chairperson of the Tshwane Alliance for Street Children (TASC).

TASC houses a few hundred street children who they attempt to rehabilitate and educate for a better future with limited money.

“Instead of giving to street children, the community should rather give to shelters that aim to help the children,” she says.

According to Tahiyya, it is an endless battle because the community, who means well by giving to the street children, are in fact doing more harm than good.

“Street children leave their homes because of poverty, abuse or the death of their parents. It is never an easy decision for any child to make.

“They end up on the streets, already broken and hurt and in desperate need of support. They have to learn very quickly to survive by getting involved in prostitution, drug trafficking or stealing.

“If we can get a street child into a shelter within 36 hours after arriving on the street, rehabilitation is easy. The longer they are on the streets the harder it becomes because they get everything they need from a generous public and through involvement with criminal elements,” she says.

Mike Bolhuis, who specialises in drug- and child abuse, believes that the system is failing the street children.

“The social and welfare system is in the first place failing the parents who are unable to take proper care of their children who are then forced to live on the streets.

“In the second place it is failing the children once they are on the streets.

“The lawlessness in this country makes it easy for adults to exploit the children while it also allows the children to engage in various criminal acts to survive.

“This country is not investing in the future of its children,” he says.

According to Mike, he and his team have apprehended many females and males in Pretoria in the past few years for soliciting street children to perform sexual favours in return for money.

PIA News Releases: "PIA Press Release
03/30/2006
Koronadal warns parents of street children
by JF Reyes

Koronadal City (30 March) — Due to the increasing number of street children begging for food or money in urban centers of South Cotabato and the continuous existing of cases that violate the child labor law, the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) had warned parents of street children for allowing their kids to work even in their minor age.

Bella Lechonsito, PSWDO Officer said that the parents can be sued for allowing their children to roam around the streets and beg for food and money although she admitted that they have not yet sued anyone for that matter.

Lechonsito, however called the attention of all parents not to exploit their children and requested the public to report to the nearest Social Welfare Office or Police Stations in their municipalities if they encounter children being exploited by some groups or syndicates. (PIA 12)"

Distribute street kids among all States to be fair: Cash

Kota Kinabalu: The Consumer Association for Sabah and Labuan (Cash) Tuesday proposed that the 65 Filipino street children currently placed at three immigration depots in Sabah be distributed among the various states, so as to be fair to Sabah.

Its President, Datuk Patrick Sindu said the street children should be equally divided and sent to states such as Selangor, Perlis, Kedah, Perak, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Johor and Penang, among others.

"The people said since the matter is a Federal Government problem, other states should also share the burden and not just Sabah alone," he said.

He said only by sending these children to the various states, would the Government be able to embrace the matter as a national issue.

"Otherwise, if the children continue to remain at the immigration centres without solution forthcoming from the Federal Government and the seemingly disinterested Philippine Government, the problem will never be solved."

He criticised the Philippine authorities "who for some ulterior motive does not seem interested in wanting any of their nationals back by giving all sorts of excuses when a simple conversation with any of these detainees would confirm through accent whether they are really Filipinos."

The Philippine Government refused to issue travel documents to those below 17, unless accompanied by parents. It also practices a policy whereby even Filipino adults seeking to obtain documents to return home would have to state and get attestations from their Malaysian sponsors or contacts in Sabah.

Patrick said the people of Sabah do not want to be seen as uncaring to these street children when they are supposed to be studying in school.

"Most people we spoke to sympathised with the children who have been abandoned by their parents," he said.

However, he said Sabah should not be left to tend to the problem because it involves nationality issues that requires the Federal Government’s intervention.

He said while basic education is important, the United Nations (UN) should provide the funds to educate the street children and offspring of the IMM13 holders.

"After all, it was the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHCR) which had requested that these displaced people be given sanctuary in Sabah.

"We cannot tackle this problem because we simply do not have the funds," he said.

Patrick said the children are not animals and should not be put behind "cages". In the United States, he said, the Government would normally give them counselling and eventually draft them into the army and have them sent to war. "If they come back alive they will be given automatic citizenship."

"What I am afraid is that these children would be exploited by the Philippines," he said.

"After all, the Philippine Government has shown that it does not intend to give up its Sabah claim."

Butuan’s Street Kids

(Blog entry) 

allAfrica.com: Namibia: Farmers Support Street Children

The Namibian (Windhoek)

March 29, 2006
Posted to the web March 29, 2006

Staff Reporter
Windhoek

MEMBERS of the Gobabis Regional Agricultural Union have donated building materials to develop a plot of land at Gobabis for a project in aid of street children.

The Lig vir die Kinders (Light for the Children) Project in Gobabis is run by Pastor Olwage.

He approached the Gobabis Regional Agricultural Union and asked for building materials during their annual meeting at the end of last year.

The union in turn approached its members, who collected unused material lying around on their farms.

Last weekend the farmers donated the building materials to the project.

This included cement, door and window frames, toilet seats, paint, tiles, kitchen appliances and utensils.

Donated materials that cannot be used will be sold and the money used to buy usable items.

The Gobabis Regional Agricultural Union, which already donates wood and food on a regular basis, will help with the further collection of building materials, as a lot is still needed.

Kay-Dieter Rumpf, Chairman of the union, said the farmers were impressed with the way the project was run and decided to help wherever possible.

The project looks after about 200 children.

The main aim is to take in street children and give them basic pre-school education.

The children are also given information about HIV-AIDS and receive leadership training.

The project also helps to pay the school fees of children who are in formal schools.

The children receive a meal each day and the project is totally dependent on donations.

Currently, a large building made from reeds and corrugated-iron sheets doubles as a church and a school.

There is also a shelter that was donated by a church in South Africa.

This shelter needs to be enclosed so that it can be used as a kitchen.

Plans for the future include three classrooms, toilets and bathrooms.

The whole complex is fenced off with a security fence donated by a member of the Epukiro Farmers’ Association.

Pastor Olwage appeals to people not to give the town’s street children money, as this encourages them to beg rather than to come to the project for education."

Reuters AlertNet - ZAMBIA: Street kids open their minds to govt plan
27 Mar 2006 17:50:41 GMT
Source: IRIN

LUSAKA, 27 March (IRIN) - Poverty and HIV/AIDS are sending a growing number of children onto Zambian streets, where most have few options other than begging or sex work to get by

But when the government offered a young and homeless John Chibale an opportunity to access vocational training last year, he turned it down. He believed that the Skills Training and Transformation Programme was an attempt to decongest the streets by dumping street children in ‘concentration camps’.

Today, Chibale, 18, says he regrets the decision. He is a drug addict and the streets of the capital, Lusaka, are still his home.

The National Service Skills Training camps in the towns of Katete in the east and Kitwe in the northwest are training 207 other street children, and has helped open doors for them. After eighteen months of training the first group is expected to graduate later this year with skills in carpentry, farming, mechanics and tailoring.

Emmanuel Sandi, Deputy Minister for Sports, Youth and Child Development said the government would provide children who graduated from the programme with loans and tools to set up businesses, financed by a US $12 million revolving fund.

‘Agriculture [as a subject of instruction] is compulsory because we want to promote food security,’ he told IRIN.

Zambia officially has about 75,000 street children, but it is estimated that almost twice that number roam the streets. According to a study by the International Labour Organisation, most youngsters living rough or in prostitution were orphans.

‘We sent these boys to be rehabilitated and acquire skills but, above all, we are instilling discipline. They are not allowed to smoke cigarettes or drink any alcoholic beverages, and the confinement does not allow them to keep cash that can allow them to buy such things,’ Sandi commented.

Since the programme began in 2004, 32 children have deserted from the camps and two have died from various ailments during training.

Nelly Sambwa, 12, who lives rough in the northern town of Ndola has urged the government to extend the programme to include girls. So far only boys have been admitted.

‘I didn’t know that the government was offering us an opportunity to reform through skills training and rehabilitation. I would like to go if I’m given a chance,’ she said, a small container of what smelt like petrol by her side.

To date 16 resource and training centres have been set up, with more planned in all the country’s 72 districts, and will include girls. A camp has been earmarked for Kabwe, about 200 km north of Lusaka.

The Deputy Minister of Community Development and Social Welfare, Sebio Mukuka, noted that the training centres gave the children an opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty and hunger. ‘Can you imagine how good it will be if our children and youth can obtain skills, and how much money they will make and sustain themselves? Poverty can be eradicated if small-scale businesses are availed to the youths of Zambia.’

Sandi urged Zambians to prioritise family values and to provide a support system for HIV/AIDS orphans. ‘Family values are breaking up because of HIV/AIDS-related cases, and people are no longer willing to take responsibility for orphans. We are a very cultured society … [and] have for a long time believed in extended families. We should look beyond our own children if society’s moral fibre is to be maintained.’

Zambia has an adult HIV prevalence rate of 16.5 percent."

The Rising Nepal:

Workshop for street children begins

By Our Correspondent
KATHMANDU, Mar. 27: The Child Workers in Nepal Concern Centre (CWIN) launched a month long ‘Street Business Tool Kit Workshop’ here Monday for 30 street children aged between 15 to 18 from different organisations working for child welfare.

CWIN has launched the workshop aiming to promote skillful business with the support of Plan-Nepal, said Sanu Giri, programme coordinator at CWIN Sajha Thalo.

Among the 30 urchins, two are from Concern, three from Saathi, three from Voice of Children (VoC), four from SathSath and 18 from CWIN, he added.

He, further, added that five trainers would participate at the workshop representing SathSath, Saathi, Concern, VoC and CWIN. The workshop will be conducted for three hours daily, he added.

Bhanu Pathak, UNICEF representative, said that the workshop would make the children capable of running small businesses.

Secretary general of CWIN, Madhav Pradhan, said that the workshop was launched to promote the skills of children being looked after by different organisaitons.

Kabita Shah, programme officer at SathSath, informed that the trained children from different organisations have succeed to be independent by selling different things like momo, clothes, lighter, candle.

Roshan Sunuwar, a child of CWIN, is going to participate at the workshop, believed that the training would benefit them to increase their income and to be self-dependent.

Secretary general of CWIN, Madhav Pradhan, handed over handbags to all the participants.

Executive Director of SathSath Biso Bajracharya, programme coordinator of Saathi Anju Singh, representative of VoC Sanath Acharya participated in the inaugural session of the training.

CWIN, a non-governmental organisation, has been working in the sector of child welfare since the past 18 years giving relief to the children through socialization, empowerment and reunification.

CWIN calculated that there were approximately 800 to 900 street children where about 200 to 300 children have been living in the footpath."