Rwanda: Street Children Get New Basketball/Volleyball Court
The New Times (Kigali)

26 November 2007
Posted to the web 26 November 2007

Bonnie Mugabe
Kigali

Right To Play Rwanda has opened a basketball and volleyball court at CPAJ, a Centre for street children based in Kicukiro, Gasabo district.

Right To Play sponsored the contrsuction of basketball/volleyball court to a tune of over Frw6 millions.

The organization’s Country Manager Gningue Massamba told Times Sport that construction of this basketball/volleyball court is one of their programmes in assisting rehabilitation centers.

‘This court would go along way to help them (street children) realize their life careers as well as feel not displaced in their own country.

‘We hope to give them more assistance to acquire and develop life skills through sports and play programs,’ Massamba said.

According to CPAJ Coordinator, Cyprien Musabwa, this court would help the street children to develop their talents as well as act as a pulling factor to other street children who love sports.

‘The construction of this court was meant to develop the careers of some of the street children in this Centre. There are many children here with an abundance of talent in both basketball and volleyball.

‘We have already trained some few individuals and more are going to be taught the basics of the sport,’ Musabwa added.

He noted that engaging in sports helps the street children to pass their spare time rather than them spending it thinking of bad behaviors which would otherwise ruin their lives.

CPAJ, a rehabilitation and street chidren centre was founded by Presbyterian Church in Rwanda in 1998 in thier mission, ‘Street children is a big challenge for the country as a whole’

The center engages in many activities including: joining children and sensitizing to come to the center, sending children to school, counselling the traumatised children, linking these children with their families, supporting children with self-reliance activities and sensitizing them on how to prevent HIV/AIDS.

The center has got over 260 children; the centre is in partnership with different organisations with Right To Play inclusive.

Award wining child director talks about Care of Foothpath
From: lehren
Added: November 20, 2007
11 year old child director Kishan Shrikanth talks about his film ‘Care of Footpath’ at a press conference and the inspiration he got from street children.

Children tortured as witches in Angola
	Published:Nov 26, 2007
DEVIL’S DISCIPLE? Afonso Garcia, 6, at the Saint Joseph’s Children’s Centre, in Uige, northern Angola, where the Catholic church runs the town’s only sanctuary for children victimised as witches. Many children accused of witchcraft are abandoned by their families Pictures: NEW YORK TIMES TOUGH LIFE: Domingos Pedro, 15, left, and his brother during a visit home, near the Saint Joseph’s Children’s Centre ‘The situation started when fathers became unable to care for the children’ Domingos Pedro was only 12 when his father died. The passing was sudden; the cause was a mystery to doctors in Uige, Angola. But not to Domingos’s relatives. They gathered that afternoon in Domingos’s mud-clay house, he said, seized him and bound his legs with rope. They tossed the rope over the house’s rafters and hoisted him up until he was suspended headdown over the hard dirt floor. Then they told him they would cut the rope if he did not confess to murdering his father. “They were yelling, ‘Witch! Witch!’” Domingos recalled, tears rolling down his face. “There were so many people all shouting at me at the same time.” Terrified, Domingos told them what they wanted to hear but his relatives were not appeased. Ferraz Bulio, the neighbourhood’s traditional leader, said seven or eight villagers were dragging Domingos down a dirt path to the river, apparently to drown him, when he intervened. “They were slapping him and punching him,” he said. “This is the way people react towards someone accused of witchcraft. There are lots of such cases.” Bulio is right. In parts of Angola, Congo and the DRC, a surprising number of children are accused of being witches and beaten, abused or abandoned. Child advocates estimate that thousands of children living in the streets of Kinshasa, Congo’s capital, have been accused of witchcraft and cast out by their families, often as a rationale for not having to feed or care for them. The officials in one northern Angolan town identified 432 street children who had been abandoned or abused after being called witches. The notion of child witches is not new here. It is a common belief in Angola’s dominant Bantu culture . Adult witches are said to bewitch children by giving them food, then forcing them to reciprocate by sacrificing a family member. But officials attribute the surge in persecutions of children to war — 27 years in Angola, ending in 2002, and near constant strife in Congo. The conflicts orphaned many children; other families were left intact but destitute and unable to feed themselves. “The ‘witch’ situation started when fathers became unable to care for their children,” said Ana Silva, who is in charge of child protection for the children’s institute. “So they started seeking any justification to expel them from the family.” Since then, she said, the phenomenon has followed poor migrants from the northern Angolan provinces of Uige and Zaire to the slums of Luanda. Two recent cases horrified officials. In June, Silva said, a Luanda mother blinded her 14- year-old daughter with bleach to try to rid her of evil visions. In August, a father injected battery acid into his 12-year-old son’s stomach because he feared the boy was a witch, she said. Angola’s government has campaigned since 2000 to dispel notions about child witches, Silva said, but progress comes slowly. “We cannot change the belief that witches exist,” she said. “Even the professional workers believe that witches exist.” Instead, her institute is trying to teach authority figures — the police, teachers, religious leaders — that violence against children is never justified. The Angolan city of Mbanza Congo has blazed a trail. After a child accused of witchcraft was stabbed to death in 2000, provincial officials and Save the Children, the global charity, rounded up 432 street children and reunited 380 of them with their relatives. Villages formed committees to monitor children’s rights. The authorities say the number of children who are abused or living on the streets dropped drastically. Uige is another story . In this region, said Bishop Emilio Sumbelelo, of St Joseph’s Catholic Church, persecution of children is rising. “ We know that some children have been killed.” His church runs the town’s only sanctuary for children victimised as witches, a shelter barely bigger than a three-car garage. Thirty- two boys, including Domingos, occupy bunks stacked a foot apart. There is no shelter for girls . Afonso García, 6, took the shelter’s last empty cot in July. “I came here on my own because my father doesn’t like me and I was not eating every day.”

Australian-Vietnamese devotes her time to street kids

Street children attending a class with an Australian volunteer in Ho Chi Minh City Tran Thi Yen is a Vietnamese girl who was raised in Australia. There she earned a university degree and had a good job, but something was missing from her life.

She is now a volunteer in Ho Chi Minh City helping disadvantaged children and feeling more fulfilled than ever. For over half a year now, Yen has been working diligently at “15 May School”. This is a non-profit school and shelter for street kids in District 1. They provide primary and secondary education to over 250 children free of charge, as well as providing shelter for more than 30 children with no one else to care for them. Each day Yen walks for ten minutes from her flat to the school to have positive interactions with the kids by running educational programs. The rest of her time is spent seeking scholarships and other resources for the children. Much of that time is spent online communicating with people interested in volunteering time or resources to assist the children of 15 May School. “There’s so much to do,” Yen said. “But I find it interesting working with teachers, volunteers and the children. It helps me realize how lucky I am.” Yen mentioned a girl named Thang with admiration and sympathy. “Thang was born in a small village in Ha Tinh Province,” Yen said. “She left her village at 15 and went with a sister to Saigon to look for work. She had no education and worked as a waitress at a cafe for a small wage. Thang wound up being brought to 15 May School where she has been educated until now. She often says she dreams of being able to make enough money when she grows up to built her own school for poor children. I hope her dream comes true.” Yen told us that she had learned about the work of 15 May School when she paid a visit to Vietnam two years ago while she was still at university. She was impressed by the work of the teachers there and admired the impact they had on the lives of the disadvantaged children. After visiting Vietnam Yen returned to Australia and completed her university degree in Art Design. Afterwards, she entered the working world and became a young professional. However, the desire to do something loftier with her time kept bringing back the image of the disadvantaged children in Vietnam to her mind. Finally, she made the decision to follow her dreams. Yen quit her job and became involved with the Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development (AYAD) program. She is one of many young people in the AYAD program working in Vietnam. Yen became a member when she was introduced by another volunteer. She took a training course in Vietnamese culture, medical care, and working skills through the organization to prepare her for what she would do when she came to Vietnam. Yen returned to Vietnam to devote her time to the disadvantaged children of her motherland. She doesn’t make the money she would climbing the corporate ladder in Australia, but she is fulfilled in her work. The corporate world may offer money, but working with street kids offers compassion which is a more valuable asset to Yen. AUSTRALIAN HELP There are now 23 young Australians working as AYAD program volunteers in Vietnam. The AYAD program is fully funded by the Australian Government’s overseas aid agency, AusAID. Launched in August 1998, the AYAD program goal is to strengthen mutual understanding between Australia and the countries of the Asia Pacific region by making a positive contribution to development. The program does this through four main objectives: 1. To provide opportunities for young Australians to contribute to Australia’s overseas aid program and to gain personal and professional experience in developing countries. 2. To build the capacity of individuals, organizations and communities in partner countries through sharing skills and knowledge. 3. To foster partnerships between organizations and communities in Australia and those in developing countries. 4. To raise public awareness of development issues and the Australian aid program in the Australian community. For more information about AusAID, please go to www.ausaid.gov.au Reported by Thien Long

Dangers Faced by Street Children of Mogadishu function mxclightup(imageobject, opacity){ if (navigator.appName.indexOf(”Netscape”)!=-1 &&parseInt(navigator.appVersion)>=5) imageobject.style.MozOpacity=opacity/100 else if (navigator.appName.indexOf(”Microsoft”)!= -1 &&parseInt(navigator.appVersion)>=4) imageobject.filters.alpha.opacity=opacity }

Written by Mohamed Shiil,

Published in : News, Human Rights

Mogadishu, (insidesomalia.org) abandoned street children are not safe in the streets wrecked by the ongoing fighting in capital city.

Around 2,000 children live in the streets of Mogadishu based on a report released in 2005 by the United Nations Children’s Fund.

Most of street children face being caught in cross fire between TFG backed by Ethiopian army and Islamists. A twelve year old street boy called Mohamed Sahal told insidesomalia.org some of his close friends died in the shoot out in the capital, some were wounded and others taken as prisoners,’ I saw two friends of mine shot dead as they were trying cross a junction of one of the main streets in Mogadishu in Bar Ubah, Black Sea and Howl wadaag”.

Another risk is addiction to drugs such sniffing glue and a local narcotic drug Khat. Khat contains the alkaloid cathinone, an amphetamine-like stimulant which causes excitement and euphoria.

Mohamed Sahal earns meager wages by shinning shoes, but this is hard to come by in a city where people have fled and have other pressing issues on their mind.

Mohamed has spoken about his experience from the fighting in Mogadishu and how he had survived from the stray bullets, mortar shells, and rocket propelled grenades. ‘At least for two days consecutively I was hiding under the wooden kiosks where Khat is sold – known as Kabar”.

Mohamed sleeps in a small room he rented, which he shares with other people mostly elderly beggars and some other young street children who are also shoe shiners.

There are no statistics of the official number of the street boys killed or wounded in the fighting in Mogadishu but, many children were either killed or wounded in the recent fighting.

Homeless children get very little support from government, local community and by their relatives. In Somalia, children have little opportunity for education and rights.

 

Zimbabwe: Voices from a basket case

Amanda Attwood

"At Chicken Inn, two street kids were begging food from a fat woman. The woman scowled and drew her food closer, shouting at the security guard to "come and do your job!" The guard, who looked hungry himself, used his baton on one of the urchins, but they suddenly returned with four others. He stood there helplessly as they swarmed all over the woman’s table. She stood up, clutching chicken pieces to her bosom and shouting obscenities at the departing figures. Surprisingly, she continued to eat, ignoring the guard’s suggestion to move to a safer table indoors. But then a whole pack of street kids surrounded her, grabbing everything, including the piece she was holding to her mouth."

In 2005 he joined volunteers from the city’s Hilton Church on a work party at two boys’ homes in Peru, Puerto Alegria in the Amazonian rain forest and Kusi high up in the Andes. Two years later, he now works full time for the small Scottish charity which organised that trip, The Vine Trust.

"One of my friends and I did a bit of travelling in South America and as part of that we just went along for a couple of weeks," he explained.

"I got back home and got an IT job, but didn’t especially like it, so I phoned Willy MacPherson, my current boss, and asked if there were any opportunities and here I am today."

Calum spends around two or three months of each year in Peru, but also has a lot to do back home in the trust’s Scottish headquarters — previously the director’s garage in Port Seaton near Edinburgh.

"We work very closely with an organisation in Peru, Scripture Union Peru. In this country it’s just four of us, but because of that it is quite varied," Calum said.

"I’ll go into schools and speak about the work, organise trips for people — this year we have had over 300 go over to Peru — I’ll organise training for groups going to Peru, itineraries while they are there, I do some stuff with the website and I do things with the media."

He was also in Peru recently to co-ordinate filming on the follow up to STV’s documentary series about The Vine Trust screened earlier this year. The second series will be broadcast in February.

"The other week we were going over the Andes with a little medical ship," he added, pointing out that it took five days to drive the boat on the back of a lorry to the edge of the rainforest before it began its five-day voyage to Iquitos, the capital of Peruvian Amazonia.

There it will join the two existing ships and a medical clinic funded by the charity which already treats around 52,000 patients a year.

Medical volunteers from the UK will help out with these clinics, but work teams like the Hilton group, medical teams and even school groups, which combine work with education to examine issues of poverty and globalisation, will also get involved in helping the Trust’s street children projects. By the end of next year there will be eight residential homes hosting around 40 boys, as well as a number of day centres and night centres offering refuge for Peru’s street children.

"The hope is the whole project will eventually become self-sustainable," he explained.

"We are setting up micro enterprise projects, for example a bakery, a taxi business, a rickshaw business and a car park business. They can help some of the former street boys, which is very important because there is a lot of social stigma against them which means it’s hard for them to get training or employment in the future. That also raises revenue so the project will become fully self-sustaining."

A party of 35 Highland volunteers led by members of Hilton Church and their friends recently paid a return visit to Puerto Alegria and Kusi, further strengthening the links they established in 2005. They included Raigmore eye surgeon Iain Whyte, who performed several operations, builders from city construction company Tulloch and a range of other occupations from plumbers to hoteliers.

"There are a number of groups that go out more than once," Calum added.

"There are very strong links with Inverness through Hilton Church and other groups and we’re very grateful for what they have done. They have also done a lot of fundraising as well. The team has raised £30,000 for the work. That will fund a home centre for a year."

The Inverness party included a number of family groups, such as Highland Hospice medical director Stephen Hutchison, his wife Ingrid and daughter Fiona (16).

It was actually the second time members of the Henderson family had visited Peru. Two years ago Stephen had visited with his son Iain and older daughter Karen.

Stephen, who has one other daughter Ruth who is yet to make the trip, commented: "It was certainly nice to do something as a family on each occasion and nice to have each other’s support while we were there, but it wasn’t, in a sense, as important as being part of a larger group because the group bonded together well.

"The homes are fairly remote. One of them is almost an hour’s journey in a banana boat from Iquitos, which is itself fairly remote. You can only get to it by boat or plane and Puerto Alegria is up river from there."

He continued: "There were a whole variety of jobs, from bricklaying and various electrical and plumbing things that the various workmen did, but as a far as my family were concerned, we were just being labourers, I suppose."

Stephen had another function as team doctor, though fortunately had only a few minor ailments to deal with despite the arduous conditions faced by the Highland workers.

"Puerto Alegria, is extremely hot and humid. You get really, really sweaty and dirty — it’s incredible. It’s the dirtiest I have ever been in my life," Stephen remembered.

"In Kusi, you don’t get quite so hot because you’re up in the mountains. It’s a much drier heat, so it’s not quite so unpleasant in that respect."

Fiona also had another job, along with the other youngsters of the party, in making friends with the boys at the two homes, despite the visitors’ difficulties with the language.

"It turned into a little bit of a joke with them, trying to say things and them not understanding," she said.

"The younger ones would be quite cuddly and generally wanting to come up and listen to things like iPods. The older ones would play table football and proper football. So there was plenty to do."

Friendships have been formed with the boys, but Fiona will also take some important lessons away from her Peruvian experience.

"To see how poor things can get has been quite shocking really and just to see how nice and lovely people can be.

"The culture there is to treat the street boys like dirt, but this lets you see what fantastically lovely people they are," she said. "I definitely want to go back. I’m already planning my next trip there."

Scott MacRoberts of Milton of Leys, Highlands and Islands regional worker for Scripture Union, also believes his visit will have a lasting impact.

"The boys had obviously been through hell, but in many ways they were the fortunate ones and it was a happy thing to see them having a second chance in life," he said.

"It would be fair to say we felt we gained more in many ways than we were able to contribute. Having said that, we did get a lot of physical work done. We’ve had our horizons broadened and we’ve learned a lot about what goes on in the world."

Angus MacLeod, a Gaelic development officer, said the Hilton visitors had succeeded in introducing some Highland culture to Peru.

The boys were presented with some penny whistles, donated by Highland music tuition organisation Feisan nan Gaidheal, while Caley Thistle may also have picked up some new fans with the donation of a number of strips.

"Some of them were very keen on dance and choreography and we ended up doing the Gay Gordons with them," Angus said with a laugh.

As well as helping construct new buildings in Puerto Alegria and learning to make bricks the old fashioned way from bricks and straw in Kusi, Angus also had some very close encounters with Peruvian wildlife.

"I went to the bathroom in the morning and there was this big-eyed frog looking up at me," he laughed.

"Then where we were eating, some of the boys turned over one of the benches and found a tarantula having a kip!"

More seriously, he added: "Before we went over we didn’t know what difference we could make, but I think just the fact that we are willing to help and are doing something to raise the profile of issues over there is important.

"It certainly makes me appreciate what I’ve got."

Fifa draw, derby put Durban in tourism spotlight
David Christianson

DURBAN — This weekend’s Fifa 2010 preliminary draw in Durban gives the city first bite at positioning itself for the expected 2010 tourism influx, with thousands of local and international journalists and delegates flooding the city.

Provincial Premier Sbu Ndebele has said he regards the draw as a golden opportunity to market KwaZulu-Natal to the world.

It will also be SA’s first opportunity to showcase its preparations for the 2010 World Cup.

Peter Bendheim of Durban Africa, the city’s tourism agency, said yesterday that while official Fifa delegates and international journalists numbered about 3000, another 20000 visitors were expected.

“Every decent hotel room is sold out this weekend,” he said.

Durban has about 22000 hotel rooms and Bendheim said the influx would generate about R50m for the city.

Attractions this weekend include football matches in the city, including the Orlando Pirates-Kaiser Chiefs derby, the premier screening of the movie More than a Game and a beach party.

Local DA leader John Steenhuizen is worried that the event will be something of a “Potemkin Village”, amid allegations this week that the city’s metro police were removing street children from their beachfront haunts.

The term comes from 18th century Russian General Grigori Potemkin, who had a series of fake prosperous villages constructed to conceal the squalor of rural Russia during a tour by Empress Catherine the Great.

Street children, who have been linked to beachfront crime, were allegedly removed in a metro police operation this week and taken to homeless shelters.

One unnamed social worker was quoted in a local newspaper as saying some children had been charged with loitering and had been taken to Westville Prison outside Durban.

The newspaper also reported a notable lack of street children at robots.

Metro police spokes-person Thomas Tyala yesterday denied the allegations, saying that to the best of his knowledge there had been no such operation by his department.

Steenhuizen said the city needed a long-term solution to the problem of street children.

“This sort of thing has happened before, notably around the Common-wealth Heads of Government Meeting and the World Aids Conference.”

Steenhuizen suggested the street children would be best dealt with by providing grants-in-aid to local nongovernmental organisations, such as I-Care, which focus on rehabilitating the home-less.

Security in the city has been beefed up in all areas where activities around the draw will take place. These include the International Convention Centre (ICC), Durban International Airport, hotels and other tourist destinations.

The SA Police Service said yesterday that more than 1 000 extra “law enforcement officers” would be deployed across the province for the weekend.

Police reservists have also been called up to supplement the existing policing operations.

A beachfront resident said the area — where almost all delegates will be staying — has been ‘‘saturated” by police.

“You do not have to wait more than 30 seconds for a police van to drive past,” he said.

Where are Durban’s street children?

November 22 2007 at 10:21AM

By Sharlene Packree and Heinz de Boer

Durban’s usually bustling street child colonies have all but disappeared from the city after what is believed to be a major police crackdown ahead of this week’s Fifa preliminary draw.

City officials remain at odds over the fate of dozens of children, who are believed to have been rounded up by SAPS and Metro Police units before being taken to Westville Prison.

Social workers say this happened after the children and some adults with small children were charged for loitering and given fines they cannot afford. Some may spend up to 90 days behind bars.

‘The children were… handed over to social workers’

City manager Dr Michael Sutcliffe has however strongly denied the allegations, saying he would "never condone" such police action.

But Metro Police spokesperson Superintendent Thozamile Tyala, confirmed that beachfront children were collected by Metro Police in a routine operation.

"We always remove the street children from the beachfront. The children were taken to a place of safety and handed over to social workers," he said.

The Daily News visited several hotspots in Mahatma Gandhi Road (Point Road), Addington Beach, Blue Lagoon and Central Durban where street children are usually seen. There were no children in sight in any of these areas.

There were no children begging at traffic lights or along the beachfront. Adult vagrants at Addington Beach said the children had been rounded up over the weekend and collected by Metro police vans.

‘So where have they gone to suddenly’

A social worker, who asked not to be named out of fear of falling foul of city authorities and who works at a Durban shelter, said the children were picked up by Metro police and charged with loitering.

She said they were taken to Westville Prison.

"Hopefully this is the last time it happens. They can’t keep doing this to these children. We should find a permanent solution," she said.

Sipho Mabaso, who works with street children at the Sakhisizwe Reception Centre near Margaret Mncadi Avenue (Victoria Embankment), said that on average there were 200 children living on Durban’s streets.

However, since Monday, Durban’s street children have disappeared from many of their popular city haunts.

"On average, we see about 5 or 10 children at the reception centre. I haven’t seen any of these kids since Monday," he said.

Mabaso said it was "very suspicious" that the children are nowhere to be seen at a time when there were international delegates and media in the city.

"Everybody knows street children are a problem in Durban. So where have they gone to suddenly?" he said.

Sutcliffe has meanwhile called on people with details of forced removals to bring forward evidence.

"Dealing with street children is a social welfare issue, and the Metro Police is not involved. We as the city will never be associated with that.

"It has been an issue discussed at the Joint Operations Centre, and police have been instructed to certainly take away their glue if they are seen with it.

"Obviously there is a heightened police presence now, so the street children tend to not hang out as much," Sutcliffe said.

• This article was originally published on page 1 of Daily News on November 22, 2007

Respite from streets

S.L. center for youths treats homeless to an early feast
By Elaine Jarvik
Deseret Morning News
Published: Thursday, Nov. 22, 2007 12:09 a.m. MST

Katt has a saying: "Concrete flows thicker than blood or water any day of the week." By blood, of course, she means the people she’s related to, who by and large haven’t been very reliable. As for the concrete, she’s talking about the street. And by street, she means the sidewalks and the public plazas and the abandoned buildings that house Salt Lake City’s homeless young people.

If you live on the street, say the kids who do, other street kids are your family. So it was fitting, on the eve of the most traditional of family holidays, that Katt and her friends shared a Thanksgiving meal Wednesday afternoon at the Homeless Youth Resource Center on State Street.

Dinner was served at 4 p.m. so that the last of the pies would be gone and the chores done before everybody was shooed out the door at 7. Because of funding problems, the Homeless Youth Resource Center is only open for eight daytime hours; after that it’s back to the street, maybe to go couch surfing at the apartment of a friend of a friend, maybe to squat in a boarded-up warehouse, maybe to walk around all night, high on meth, trying to keep warm.

Official average age of those who gather each day at the center is 19 or 20, says Zachary Bale, director of outreach services for Volunteers of America, which runs the center. Some of the kids may be younger but lie about their age for fear of being reported to the Division of Child and Family Services, he says.

You don’t "age out" of the center until you’re 23. The "youth" in the center’s name refers to development and education levels more than mere chronology, Bale explains. Some of the homeless at the center have addictions and mental-health issues, some are the product of unstable upbringings. Hardly any are the kind of bohemian street kids you might find in Seattle or Portland, rich kids just trying to be street kids, Bale says.

Some have run away from abusive or strict or neglectful families. Some have aged out of the foster-care system and don’t know what to do next. And, frankly, some think the world owes them something, says a 21-year-old named Cara. "It’s ’screw you, give me free stuff,"’ she says. "That’s harsh, but I was exactly the same way."

Cara is sitting in one of the back rooms of the center, near a poster of the young James Dean, another rebel without a cause. On the street, says Cara, the mindset is, "If you don’t have to" — pay bills, follow rules, do a 9 to 5 job — "why do it?"

Cara says she’s had enough of that, though. Now, she says, she wants to settle down with her boyfriend and raise the baby that’s due next spring. Like other street kids who have moved on to living quarters with an actual address, she credits the Homeless Youth Resource Center with helping her learn to budget her money and maintain an apartment.

"They give you every skill you need to come out prosperous," says a 23-year-old named "Detour," who has aged out of the center but comes back for case management. Detour grew up with parents who were drug addicts. From age 6 to 9 he lived in a series of rundown downtown hotels and was sent out to panhandle during the day. After that it was a series of foster families. At 18 he started coming to the center.

"Once you’ve been on the street," says Katt, who has lived on her own starting at age 12 and is now 22, "it’s 10 times harder to keep a job." It’s a kind of cycle, sort of like drug abuse, she says. You start to climb out and then you slip back in. "If you haven’t grown up with what’s basic for society, then you don’t know how to do it."

For Thanksgiving today, Detour plans to cook a dinner for maybe 15 or 20 street kids and former street kids at his new apartment. "There will be two turkeys, all your vegetables pretty much, spaghetti, ham," he says. But no one has ever taught him the safety tips for thawing a 12-pound bird. The turkeys are in the bathtub, he says. Not in cold water, just in the bathtub, and have been since Tuesday.

Katt, too, will cook her first Thanksgiving dinner today, in the apartment she shares with her husband and baby. On Wednesday, the toddler was at the Resource Center gleefully twirling the glass disc in the microwave. Katt doesn’t bring him to the center very often though, she says. "I don’t want him to grow up thinking this lifestyle is something he wants to do."