World Street Children News

social entrepreneur:BUTTERFLIES

Just this evening I finished reading a book called ‘how to change the world’ by David Bornstein.
It is a truly enthralling and inspiring collection of episodes from the lives of ‘social entrepreneurs’, the book talks about unlikely heroes whose decision to take things in their own hands heralded mass movements of great social significance .
Their efforts have not only touched and transformed individual lives but have also furthered the dream of a sensitized and compassionate society.

So as I read about people like Javed Abidi ,Veronica Khosa and James Grant I began to think of ‘social entrepreneurs ‘ whom I have encountered in my limited exposure and understanding of society.
Other than some teachers, my mother and a few friends who have strongly impacted the way I and many others think a very unlikely name came to my mind—Zaved Rehman

Zaved looks about 28-30 years old ,his excessive stammering and a strong Bihari accent require one to pay extra attention as he speaks .I met him last year when my friends and I were trying to get an idea about the lives of street children in Delhi.

Flipping pages of various directories I came across a name called ‘butterflies’ an organization that deals with street children’s problems, an appointment was fixed and we landed in a small office in green park extension.

The first thing that struck me about Zaved were his eyes that seemed to be glowing with a perpetual smile; as he patiently answered our questions I could sense in him a rock solid resolve to change the lives of children who live on the margins of society.
Sitting in the comfort of our homes surrounded by more than the bare necessities of life we spare very little or no time thinking about those like us who are subjected to emotional and physical violence everyday.
A chilling reminder of this brutality that our society unleashes on these children is the butterflies’ trauma center which is built in the same compound.
So as I attempt to find my own heroes I am inspired by people like Zaved who work 24*7 (literally) and fight against all odds including severe shortage of funds and condemnation from those very children they work for ; he said “children don’t like us following them during work hours “ about the shortage of funds he says “sometimes we do need to vacate certain premises that function as schools and night shelters for children due to lack of money”
It is remarkable how in spite of such little external motivation such social entrepreneurs have never let their efforts grow slack. It is because of these efforts that some amazing feats like ‘child development bank’ i.e. a bank for working children where they can deposit, withdraw and even lend money! Have been achieved by butterflies.

I remember leaving the office awe struck ,I haven’t gone back since then (though communication through phone has been maintained ) but this experience left my friends and me thinking and(at the risk of sounding funny) I guess that is how social movements are born .

Unicef to make Cebu City streetkids’ program a model
By Linette C. Ramos
Sun.Star Staff Reporter

Impressed with Cebu City’s initiatives for street children and minor offenders, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) wants to make the City’s program for children a model not only for other provinces but for other Asian countries as well.

Unicef officials found remarkable the coordination between the City Government and a network of nongovernment organizations working together for the cause of children in the city.

Colin Davis, Unicef senior programme officer, said they are impressed with the achievements of the Cebu City Task Force on Street Children (CCTFSC), particularly its non-formal education and health services for street kids.

“Very good”

With 20 years of experience in taking care of out-of-school youth, street children, children in conflict with the law and abused children, Davis believes CCTFSC has a lot of successful projects that other local government units can learn from.

“They’re all very good, very well established and very focused on their cause. It’s about the only one I’ve seen that’s gone a little step further to provide other services like Internet access to street children. It’s this going an extra mile, going one step ahead of the others that makes them different and interesting,” Davis told reporters yesterday.

Davis specifically lauded the task force’s barangay-based diversion program for minor offenders and the dynamic leadership in Cebu City in the area of programs for children.

Unicef and Canadian International Development Agency (Cida) officials were in Cebu yesterday to monitor the initial results of the implementation of the Sixth Country Program for Children (CPC 6).

Some components of the City’s program for children receive an annual funding of close to P9.3 million from the two agencies.

Lawyer Aleberto Muyot of the Unicef’s children’s justice committee said local government units are not the only ones interested to learn from Cebu City’s experience.

Ideas

In the past three years, various government agencies and NGOs from Mongolia, Bhutan, Indonesia, Malaysia and China have been coming to Cebu and have been coordinating with Unicef to learn more about the programs of the task force and the City Government, he said.

“Most of the time, we do not just sell the program for children here as the Cebu City model. We’re selling the ideas and the program as model for Unicef,” Muyot said.

At the Pari-an Drop in Center yesterday morning, CCTFSC co-chairperson Margot Osmeña briefed the officials on the success of the projects of the task force, which they got to see during a tour.

The officials had a chance to interact with some 40 street children at the drop-in center and visited the pre-natal and breastfeeding center at the Pasil health center.

They also visited about 100 children in conflict with the law at the Operation Second Chance, the first jail facility for minors in the country.

Davis was also impressed with the task force’s mobile school, which allows some 500 community-based street children to attend informal classes.

“We’re very happy with what we’ve seen. These are just some of the projects we want to take to other cities and provinces.
We’re trying to look at what Cebu City has achieved and see if we can replicate their services in other provinces and cities,” Davis said.

Despite their successful programs, Osmeña admits a lot still has to be done for the children and some government agencies. For example, the police still needs further training on how to deal with minor offenders.

Aside from programs for children, Cida country program manager Robert Patzer said they also want to focus more on preparing the youth for employment, “so they can take advantage of better job opportunities in the future.”

Cida is working on private sector development projects in Cebu and other provinces that are also seen to help bring about more employment opportunities for the youth.

The Hindu : New Delhi News : "A dream come true for street kids

Bindu Shajan Perappadan

NEW DELHI: It was like a dream come true for 52 street children and working children from Delhi and Noida who finally got an opportunity to go to school.

Their dream was realised with help from non-government organisation ‘Childhood Enhancement through Training and Action'’ (CHETNA) which along with the United Nations Development Programme and corporate inputs has managed to give the children a chance at ‘educating themselves'’. Most of these children work as rag pickers, vendors and beer bottle pickers.

Speaking about his chance to finally study in a school and have classmates, 10-year-old Kanhaiya, who sells decorative lights at India Gate and has got admission to Nirmal Primary Schools on Shahjahan Road, says: ‘When I grow up I will also run an NGO and see to it that no child has to work on the streets any more.'’

The story is no different for 12-year-old Juhi who looks after a family of seven. She wakes up at 4 a.m. to do household chores and later makes time to study at the centre run by CHETNA. ‘The Government has given good facilities for these children. Their fee varies from 10 paise to Rs. 1.20 to study in a government school. We have already distributed uniforms to the girl students. I sincerely think that these children also have the right to education,'’ says Satyabati Kalra, Principal of the Primary School in Sector 15 of Naya Bans, who has admitted 20 children.

Delhi has more than 12 lakh out-of-school children and more than 1.5 lakh children are eligible to get admission in private schools this year.

‘Our target is to get 500 children enrolled this year. But this is not at all an easy task. We need to do regular follow-up with the children to continue school. For this we look forward to support form the government and the corporate sector,'’ explains CHETNA director Sanjay Gupta.

Speaking about the programme and the changing attitude of school authorities, CHETNA education coordinator Anamika says: "I was surprised with the attitude of principals whom I have interacted with. There is a visible change in their attitude. Last year we were able to admit only 14 children. This may be the outcome of constant awareness programmes by the Government with the help of non-government organisations.

Street children continue to be victims of abuse

The Daily Star Web Edition Vol. 5 Num 678
"Street children continue to be victims of abuse

April 26, 2006
Mahbuba Zannat

Mita (not real name), a 15-year-old has spent nine years on the streets putting up with incessant sexual harassment by people of different ages in the society.

She had left home at six, when torture by her addicted father was intolerable.

‘Once I left my home in Mirpur 1, I have gone through a horrible nine-year stretch in Karwan Bazar and Farmgate streets, being physically and mentally harassed by males who disturbed me in different ways,’ Mita said.

‘Some would pull my scarf, touch my private parts and whenever I tried to resist them, they, like villains of a movie, would tell me that if I want to live here, I would have to bear their torture,’ she added.

Eleven-year-old Tuni’s experiences are more bitter and harrowing. She was abused by a coolie at the Shadarghat launch terminal in the middle of the night who threatened her to cut off her private parts with sharp blade, when she put up a struggle to stop him.

‘I will never be able to forget that horrible night when a fat, dark-skinned man took me near a bush under the terminal bridge and gagged and left me helpless,’ said the little girl.

This is the picture of two of the many ill-fated girls that live on the streets, living in fear of harassment and torture every night.

These girls are mainly abused by passers-by, shop owners, employees, salesmen and bus-truck drivers, and helpers along footpaths, in rail stations, bus stop or kitchen markets.

Even the boys are not safe in the streets. According to a survey conducted by Incidin Bangladesh on 100 street boys between seven and 12 years at Kamalapur last year, it was found that at least 94 percent children were victims of molestation.

Mita and Tuni have luckily found relief from the harsh reality of their lives thanks to Aparajeyo Bangladesh, an NGO that works with sexually abused street children, and are staying at the Drop in Centre (DIC) of Aparajeyo Bangladesh at Karwan Bazar.

They are going through some vocational training from and learning how to be self-dependent.

Compared to the total number of street children, around 70 are facilitated by the DIC.

According to the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) report in December 2004 a total number of street children in Bangladesh is 6,74,178 who can do nothing but put up with abuse, said Laila Anjum Ara, an official of Aparajeyo Bangladesh.

"Night shelter must be ensured especially for girls on the streets to protect them from sexual harassment," she said.

"Adults take undue advantage of the vulnerability of street children. On the pretext of providing jobs, security and shelter they tend to abuse them," said Director of Incidin Bangladesh Mostaq Ahmed.

Terming ’sexual abuse of street children’ a serious problem, Women and Children Affairs Minister Khurshid Zahan Haque told The Daily Star that it could not be resolved in a short span of time.

She attributed poverty as a reason for children to migrate to urban areas, and lauded the role NGOs are playing in the rehabilitation of sexually abused street children and motivating the community positively.

A pilot project for ‘Chinnomul Shishu Kishore Sangstha’ would be expanded in six divisions within a short period, she said.

The Social Service Department of the Ministry of Social Welfare started a project in 1999 titled Appropriate Resources for Improving Street Children’s Environment (ARISE) with nine NGOs with a view of improving the life style of street children.

But it could accommodate only 986 street children in its 22 night shelters while a total of 22, 336 street children are receiving services from drop in centres during the day, said a high official of the ARISE stressing the need for increasing night shelters for vulnerable children.

Wahida Banu, director (programmes) of Aparajeyo Bangladesh stressed the need for strengthening cooperation from governmental organisations to non-governmental organisations and law enforcers.

Meanwhile, the professional bodies and the community should be more supportive to make sexually abused street children to open up about their nightmarish experiences, she said."

‘Handouts encouraging street kids’ 

BY Jacob Nankhonya

05:24:21 - 25 April 2006 The tendency by rich people to give out money and gifts to youngsters is one of the factors encouraging kids to be on the street, Programme Manager of Chisomo Children’s Club Grace Tsakama, has said.

She made the observation on Friday in Lilongwe during a march by Chisomo Children’s Club. She said street children usually flock to Asian owned shops on Fridays for handouts and the children are mostly boys.

Executive Director of Chisomo Children’s Club, Nelson Mkandawire blamed individualism among families, saying it was aggravating the problem of street kids.

Golding urges action to rescue street children from violence, sexual abuse - JAMAICAOBSERVER.COM
Balford Henry
Monday, April 24, 2006

THE issue of an identified 2,000 street children is causing concern in the Jamaica Labour Party, Opposition leader Bruce Golding told the Standing finance Committee (SFC) of Parliament last week.

Golding said the figure, published in the 2006 State of the World Children report done by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), required some examination.

He said that while the Possibility Programme under the Office of the Prime Minister was well-intentioned and had provided $12.4 million to train street children in various skills, ‘it is not a programme that is making any significant impact.’

Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr Omar Davies, answering for Child Advocate Mary Clarke, said that although just over $12 million was provided in the 2006/07 budget for her office, there was an additional $18 million carried from 2005/06 which had not been spent because of Clarke’s late appointment last year.

Not all programmes addressing children’s problems are directed through the Advocate’s office, Davies said. Some are run by non-governmental organisations.

‘Her priority is to identify the causal factors, in terms of from whence the children came and why they are there,’ said Davies.

Clarke, he said, will work with all programmes.
But Golding was critical of the seeming lack of urgency in dealing with the problems of children.

‘At the rate that the Possibility Programme is going, children are going to be coming on the streets faster than you are able to accommodate them in this programme. We really need to first of all get hold of them and just rescue them,’ Golding insisted

"The kind of things they are exposed to on the streets, the violence and the sexual abuse, we just need to get hold of them and put them under some sort of care and guidance."
And, Davies insisted: "As well as to get to the root causes."

Golding also asked that the Child Advocate take even a cursory look at some 274 children in correctional institutions, including reform schools, to assess the effectiveness of the rehabilitation process.

Sister Cyril’s school is for everyone:

April 22, 2006

In 1979, when Sister Cyril took over as principal of Loreto Day School, at Sealdah in central Kolkata, she noted that her school catered only to the elite.

Outside her school gates there were thousands of children on crowded footpaths in desperate need of an education.

“I could see no justification for running a big English medium school for a relatively small number and leaving out so many in need,” she says. Sister Cyril decided to start admitting children from underprivileged families into her privileged school.

Today 50 percent of her students are either street children or come from slums. They have been integrated into the school system. Sister Cyril implemented the idea of inclusive education some 25 years ago.

In contrast, elitist schools in Delhi, which are supposed to admit 25 percent of students from economically deprived families, continue to debate the issue, despite a court order. They baulk at the idea.

Loreto Day School, Sealdah, looks like any other school. Walk through its iron gates and you will see brightly coloured walls, children playing games and mothers waiting for their wards. Look again and you will spot barefoot children strolling around. Nobody shoos them away. They are a part of the school.

The parents of these children are often rickshaw pullers or domestic servants. Filling up an admission form is difficult for them so teachers sit with these parents and write out the form.

Richer students help enrol poorer children. Initially, the school targeted slum- dwellers. “We would often walk up to slum-dwellers and tell them they ought to send their children to our school. It would ensure them a bright future,” says Sangeeta Mondol, administrative assistant and an old student of the school. “It was a tough proposition, but finally, a small number started trickling in.”

In 1985, the school authorities extended enrolment to street children. They launched the Rainbow Project. Under this, street children were initially admitted as day scholars. Students from the school would teach them mathematics and language for three hours.

But in 2002, a three-year-old girl was raped just outside the school gates. The incident jolted Sister Cyril. “It made me realise that street children needed much more than a night shelter. With both parents off to work, they were vulnerable to all kinds of anti-social elements on the streets”

So the school decided to provide boarding facilities for these children. Nearly 300 girls between the ages of two and 16 years live in the school. Older children are taught basics and then admitted to government-run Bengali medium schools or corporation schools. The younger ones are inducted into Loreto Day School. Currently, some 60 students from the Rainbow Project are studying as regular students.

The problems of integrating children from diverse backgrounds, parental opposition and financial hurdles are a faint memory here. Part of the credit goes to the school authorities and, of course, to Sister Cyril.

“I made it clear to the parents that since the Constitution of India guarantees liberty and equality for all, why should they have a problem?” she says bluntly.

Parents now accept the school’s philosophy and programmes. “They often donate small amounts of Rs 500 and old clothes for the Rainbow Project. Even my students try saving out of their pocket money to contribute,” says Sister Cyril.

Certain rules have been laid down. The school has banned mobile phones, lavish birthday parties and generous pocket money. “ I taught my children to laugh at these practices since these are substitutes for people who have no personality,” says Sister Cyril. “ I told them to stand out as people who do not need any of these trappings.”

The school consistently teaches children to be sensitive to the less privileged. They have a Barefoot Teacher’s programme under which school dropouts from rural areas are identified and trained to become primary teachers. There is also a One- to- One Rural Outreach programme. Once a month, girls from Loreto Day School travel to rural areas adjoining Kolkata to teach children.

The school’s time- table is designed so that girls from Classes V to X get two hours every week to teach the Rainbow children as part of their work education class.

There is an incentive in this for older girls. Class XII girls who find time to teach earn a ‘Work Scholarship’ under which their tuitions and books are taken care of by the school. “We do not have scholarships beyond Class X. This enables junior college girls to earn and pay their way through,” says Sister Cyril. In return, the girls get hands on experience in teaching.

There is also a value education course for students from Class I to Class X. This syllabus is designed so that every child realises the need to lead a disciplined lifestyle, share what she has, return the love she gets from parents, be neat and tidy, sensitive to the less fortunate and never take part in teasing. Children are also taught to question the injustice of caste and class and respect all religions. They are trained to be responsible and caring citizens.

The value education course also tries to build team spirit. Children learn in groups of four and five. Progress is measured for a group. The teacher introduces the topic to be discussed. The group then talks about the subject and each team comes up with a plan to tackle the problem. The entire class then debates the solutions and arrives at a conclusion.

In one value education class children discussed how education could be taken to the underprivileged. Alisha Fernandes, a student, suggested taking time off to collect unlettered children in her neighbourhood and teach them. Another student, Ankita Karmakar, recommended teaching child domestics every evening.

The school tries to arrange a livelihood for the parents of poor children by permitting their mothers to sell home-made food on the premises, and employing their fathers as electricians, plumbers etc for the school. “ We cannot do that for everyone but we try to help as many as we can,” says Sister Cyril.

“So far, we have managed to break even and we have sufficient funds to help more children,” says Sister Cyril. “We have 500 children paying Rs 775, another 200 pay Rs. 440 and others pay anything from Rs 300 down to nothing. However, if you do the calculation in some of the big schools who do not take any poor children, you will find that such schools make a handsome profit.”

The underprivileged children get food too, from rations supplied by the government. The teachers contribute from their salaries. Sometimes children collect money. Partnership Foundation from Holland, the Rotary Club and individuals have come forward to sponsor the poorer children.

Courtesy: Civil Society Online

Speaker opens centre for street children:

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Speaker opens centre for street children

Special Correspondent

Don Bosco Navjeevan Society plans one more centre near Kacheguda station

HYDERABAD: The need for all children to be in school was stressed by Assembly Speaker K. R. Suresh Reddy here on Wednesday.

Inaugurating the Don Bosco Navajeevan, a child-friendly centre for street children and youth at risk at Nampally, close to the railway station, Mr. Reddy said rehabilitation of street children would be a challenging task, as the city grows and migration from rural to urban areas goes on. There was need for more such centres.

Friendship bands

Moved by the way some children tied friendship band on his wrist, Mr. Reddy promised to invite them to visit the Assembly. ‘I want you to promise that you will all study well and come up in life,’ he said, according to a press release.

Rev. Marampudi Joji, Archbishop of Hyderabad and Christine Lazarus, nominated MLA attended. Rev. Fr. G. Anand Reddy, Rector of Don Bosco Navjeevan Society, said this was the second centre in city after the one near Secunderabad railway station.

One more was being planned near Kacheguda railway station. The objective was to transform the lives of marginalised and neglected children through a variety of training and counselling programmes.

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