World Street Children News

Ukraine Street Kids Hit by AIDS

Kiev, Aug 31 (Prensa Latina) About 100,000 indigent Ukrainian children are the most exposed to HIV-AIDS, according to a report from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF)’s office in this capital..

One in five children living on the streets without parents was infected with the so-called disease of the 20th century, Jaremy Hartley, representative of that organization in Ukraine, stated.

The percentage of children in those conditions is much higher than the 1.5 registered in the 15 to 49 year old group, the worst rate in Europe.

The violation of human rights in children working on the streets takes place despite this country ratifying a UN convention in that sense and Parliamentary approval of a plan of action to defend children’s rights, the official denounced.

In Ukraine, almost 11,000 babies have been born of sero-positive mothers, and 186 of them have already died.

Eighty percent of AIDS patients are below 30 years old.

Loren urges establishment of street children crisis centers

Senator Loren Legarda is seeking the passage of a law that would establish welfare and crisis centers for street children all over the country, citing the lack of laws that look after their welfare and well-being.

"It is lamentable that while there are several laws that protect the rights and welfare of Filipino children in general, there is practically no piece of legislation addressing the special needs of street children," said Loren in filing Senate Bill No. 230.

Loren explained that under her proposed law, crisis centers will be established in every city or municipality that will provide various assistance to street children like temporary shelter, emergency medical and feeding programs, as well as basic education.

She said the crisis centers will be implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development, in close coordination with local government units (LGUs).

"This measure will assist in providing street children the means to uplift their conditions and take them out of the streets through programs that will equip them with livelihood, technical and social skills," Loren said in the explanatory note of her bill.

According to the Council for the Welfare of Children, there were 45,000 street children nationwide in the year 2000 alone. Seventy-five percent of the children stayed on the street most of the time, while 20 percent practically lived on the street, it said.

Loren said that specially worrisome was the finding of the council that five percent of the street children in its study suffered abuse or were engaged in illegal activities.

"National and local government agencies work hand in hand in order to uplift the situation of Filipino street children, but they have numerous needs that have yet to be made," she said.

Loren said that since the council’s study, the number of street children must have tripled or quadrupled, judging on their number seen in the streets of Metro Manila asking for alms or selling cigarettes and the like.

The proposed measure authorizes the acceptance of donations and grants from local and international organization by the implementing agency to supplement the appropriated funds for the establishment, maintenance and operation of the street children crisis centers.

These funds will be distributed accordingly to the various crisis centers within the city or municipality, Loren explained.

Street Children in Malaysia

(blog entry from World:Bridge A Refugees International Blog)

Al Jazeera English recently did a piece on street children in Sabah, Malaysia. You can view the clip here. I visited Sabah in April while on mission in Malaysia to look at the humanitarian situation for Burmese refugees. Sabah is a beautiful part of Malaysia that attracts many visitors who are interested in eco-tourism. But it is also home to thousands of migrants from the Philippines and Indonesia whose children often do not have access to public services like health care and education.

Children of migrants in Sabah whose parents have been deported by immigration authorities, and who do not have any other guardians to care for them, often end up living on the street and are forced to find work at a young age. While in Sabah, I visited a fish market in Kota Kinabalu in the early morning and saw many children pushing heavy wooden carts for customers or sleeping on top of crates between the fish stands. According to local community workers I spoke with, these children are also targets for arrest and detention by immigration and police. The street children in Sabah are very vulnerable, particularly those who are without identity documents and may be at risk of being stateless.

If you would like to see more images of the conditions that the street children in Sabah live and work in, I highly recommend the photos of Greg Constantine, who has done some amazing work on Sabah, as well as on stateless populations throughout Asia. And for more information on street children in Malaysia in general, check out this blog on street children around the world.

Ex-street children seek help

Jane Nafula

KAMPALA A group of orphans and former street children from Kampala and Mpigi Districts have appealed to good samaritans to contribute towards the construction of a spacious home for them. The children made the appeal at a breakfast meeting in Kampala on August 25. The group, which also comprises former child sex workers and other vulnerable children, said the accommodation that is being provided by Mother2Mother prayer Link ministries is inadequate. The new home, which will be located in Mpigi, is estimated to cost Shs31.1 million. " We appeal to well wishers to support Mama Agatha so that she can build us a bigger house where each one of us will be able to sleep on a single bed," said a 12-year-old Kerement Kiggundu. Kiggundu is an orphan and a former street child who was picked from Kampala streets by the Director of Mother2Mother, Ms Agatha Idusso. Testimonies He said he came to Kampala from Gomba in Mpigi District when his aunt, who was looking after him, started mistreating him. "My aunt used to beat me a lot and she could serve me little food. So I decided to leave her home and that is how I ended up in Kampala," Kiggundu said. Kiggundu was taken to his aunt’s place after the death of his parents. David Kagimu, 12, an orphan echoed Kiggundu’s request. "We kindly ask you to build us a home. We also want to be like other children with homes," Kagimu said. Kagimu said his father died in 2001 but his mother is still alive. He, however, said she cannot look after them. Kagimu said his mother lives in Kasubi,a Kampala suburb and that she hawks yellow bananas in the Old Taxi Park. Mother2Mother is currently looking after 33 vulnerable children. Ms Idduso said every child has been rehabilitated and taken back to school.

Shelter for street children arranged
By our correspondent
A local NGO Sehar foundation has arranged temporary shelters for the protection of street children against torrential rains at different marriage halls in Karachi.

According a press release received here on Sunday , the chairman of the organisation Iftikhar Gazali said that shelter is available to the hapless souls at marriage halls in North Nazimabad, Nasirabad, Gulshan Chowrangi, PIDC, Memon Community Hall (old city area) respectively.

These makeshift arrangements were said to have been made for street children of the city on an immediate basis after the first shower of the recent spell on last Tuesday evening.

The management of these halls not only agreed that their spaces be used for this purpose but also took upon the responsibility to arrange meals for these children.

Social workers trained to handle rugby-sniffing street children

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in the region has recently concluded the three-day training of social workers and house-parents managing the local government’s Social Development Center (SDC), a facility that caters to street children in this city.

The SDC has been established to respond to the need of providing temporary shelter and rehabilitation to street children in this city.

DSWD Assistant Regional Director Zenaida Arevalo said the three-day training held from August 22 to 24 at the DSWD Conference Room is one of the series of activities lined up for the operationalization of the program.

The training was focused on understanding oneself as service provider; situationer and dynamics of street children in Zamboanga City; theories on personality; the Filipino child under stress; handling basic medical and health needs of street children/rugby-sniffing children; substance abuse and its effects; trauma and recovery; basic principles and techniques in case management & group work; task and responsibilities of service providers; accreditation guidelines; and work-planning.

"Other capability building activities have already been programmed to enhance the knowledge, skills and attitude of the SDC staff in effectively handling the rugby-sniffing street children, like training on counseling and case management, demonstration of caseload inventory/reviews, and conduct of case conferences," Arevalo said.

The program is a pilot test for social technology developed by the DSWD in Region 9. It was approved for implementation in coordination with the local government.

However, despite its presence, as well as of other non-government organization (NGO) centers, street children still abound in this city’s streets.

While some of these children try to fend for themselves through vending, helping park vehicles, or as baggage carriers, others are led to substance abuse through rugby sniffing.

Statistics shows there are more children who are into substance abuse in this city as shown by the reports of the Task Force for Street Children.

As a response, a Comprehensive Program for Rugby-Sniffing Street Children was developed by the DSWD in Region 9, since there is no specialized program addressing this problem, although it’s classified with the regular street children programs and services.

This comprehensive program seeks to address the rising incidence of rugby-sniffing children, mitigate its negative effects, and to restore normal and healthy life for the rugby-sniffing children.

The technology involves the following components: physical rehabilitation (medical, detoxification, nutrition); psychological services (counseling, psycho-therapy, trauma management); social services (sports and recreation, education); spiritual (value formation, spiritual development).

The SDC is the implementing arm of this comprehensive program, with the DSWD providing technical inputs. (PNA)

Philippines Street Children
From: mtsunews
For more than 15 years Dr. Chuck Frost, MTSU professor of Social Work, has regularly visited the Philippines. Throughout that time he has painfully noticed street children who are in desperate need. As he delved into the problem he found out that millions of children are living on the streets throughout the world.

Malaysia’s migrant children - 25 Aug 07
Provided By: AlJazeeraEnglish
Al Jazeera’s David Hawkins meets the children of illegal immigrants from the Philippines living on the streets of Sabah.

MAPPED OUT: Bill Middleton says it is probably his last trip

Bill Middleton is climbing high for probably his last fundraising trip for street children.

The 66-year-old retired architect from Eynsham is putting on his walking boots to scale the ‘rooftop of Africa’, the Simien Mountain range, which rises to over 4,500 metres at its highest peak. He is doing it to raise money for RETRAK, a Christian-based organisation which tries to reunite children with families and encourage them back into mainstream education or vocational training.

Mr Middleton, who lives in High Street, became involved with RETRAK while working for six years in Uganda.

"I decided to work out there for a while to try and make a contribution to something. It was very rewarding," he said.

"I got to know the director, Andy Williams, who was putting together a football team for street children which became known as the Tigers Club, which has since formed the model for other football projects in Nairobi and Addis Ababa."

"It has developed into projects to provide schooling, buying clothes and medical aid."

Mr Middleton, who was born and raised in South Africa, lived in the USA for four years. He came to settle in England and has previously globe-trotted on fundraising efforts in New Zealand as well as Africa, and this country’s Three Peaks Challenge.

He added: "I think this will probably be my last fundraising effort, so I am hoping for lots of sponsorship.

"I’ve done fundraising trips before, but not quite like this one, where there is altitude sickness to take into account, as well as other things."

He flies out to Ethiopia in November and, while looking forward to the trek, says: "It will put my stamina to the test, as will the non-toilets and the unknown food."

The Simien Mountains is a national park and was made a Unesco World Heritage site in 1979.

Mr Middleton is hoping to raise more than £3,000 to help RETRAK. Karla Hawke, a charity spokesman, said the organisation was aiming to raise £50,000 from the efforts of Mr Middleton and other trekkers.

She added: "It will fund our work with street children in Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia. They will visit the new street children project in Addis Ababa at the end of the trek, enabling them to see where their fundraising efforts will go.

"We are really grateful to people like Bill."

Anyone who would like to help with fundraising should email thehighstreet@talktalk.net

	‘Govt must care for street children’ Keino Swamber South Bureau Saturday, August 25th 2007

Homeless and unsupervised children have been at the forefront of most criminal activities as a means of having their basic needs fulfilled, the Small Enterprising Business Association (SEBA) said in a statement yesterday. It said the children were also being used by adults who exploit their homelessness and lack of supervision. "We wish to suggest that in Government’s plan to establish a Children’s Authority, part of the mandate of this new body should be to eradicate the problem of street children and unsupervised children who have so become either through death or separation from parents, perhaps by crime or imprisonment," SEBA said in its call for a special protection programme. "These children, who become young people, do so without any sense of purpose or value to their own lives or the lives of others, thus making this growing population of street children and incubator for the development and nurturing of criminal activity." SEBA said everything must be done to generate a sense of pride and self-esteem in these young individuals. "They may not reach out to us so we must reach out to them, redirecting their youthful energies into positive activities, thus allowing all sectors of the population, with specific reference to the small business sector, to enjoy a crime-free country and to be able to ply their trade in comfort with the only threat to the success of their business being the effects of the competitive environment in which they operate."