World Street Children News

Prostituted girls’ parents not found
Nivashni Nair     Published:Jun 18, 2008
Fears that two youngsters will return to the streets

Their parents did not try to find them and it seems the only person who wanted them was the pimp who sold them.

Durban police have not found the parents of two girls, aged between eight and 12, whom they rescued two weeks ago. A man had allegedly been selling them on the city’s notorious Mahatma Gandhi Road (formerly Point Road) for sex.

A 35-year-old man, who has been arrested, allegedly paid them R300 of the R1000 he charged their customers.

The girls lived on the streets and the police have not established where they come from.

They are being cared for at a safe house but, according to those who assist street children, the likelihood of the girls returning to the streets is high.

Vusi Khoza, of the non-government organisation Street Children Operation Siza, said he would not be surprised if the girls ran away from the safe house.

“Right now, these two little girls do not realise that they have been saved — they feel like they are being punished. One has to understand the mentality of a street child to understand why they run away,” he said.

“Most often, these children run away from home because there are rules there. Now these girls are back in a situation where, at the safe house, they are guided by rules.”

“ Once they have to fend for themselves, they become vulnerable and are exploited. This is when they become drug runners and prostitutes and resort to other crimes. It is shocking that they are as young as eight years old,” Khoza said.

“I am almost certain that these girls are missing the friends they bonded with on the streets and they also miss the money they were getting from the pimp.

“When they are older, they will understand that they were exploited but right now I doubt they realise how this has affected their future. Luckily, there are people out there who can help them.”

Durban police spokesman Superintendent Muzi Mngomezulu confirmed that the police were trying to track down the girls’ parents and that a man is in custody pending a court appearance. T he man was on parole after being convicted of a drug-related crime.

A triumph for Durban’s street children

    June 16 2008 at 12:28PM

By Vivian Attwood

On Friday, just in time for Monday’s celebration of Youth Day, nine special youths underwent a rite of passage at the Durban Children’s Home (DCH) in Glenwood.

The teenagers wore broad smiles, and carried themselves with new-found confidence as they accepted their certificates of graduation from the I Care/DCH Khutaza Adolescent Development Programme.

Among the graduates were Keegan Zulu, 16, and Fundu Shezi, who recently turned 20. These youngsters featured in the article "Breaking ties with the street" (Daily News June 9).

The tenth and final episode in our series on the lives of Durban’s street children, the story highlighted the feelings of sadness and abandonment these two teens have had to live with.

The I Care programme, aimed at developing life skills in children who have made the decision to abandon street life, has made a significant difference to the outlook and future prospects of Zulu, Shezi and their fellow graduates.

All are now aware they did not forfeit any of their rights as human beings when they lived on the streets.

"I learned that I am a person, just like any other person. I will return to my studies because I want to get a job and have my own family one day," said Shezi.

"I have learned to respect myself and others, and to show love," added Zulu.

The three-month I Care programme is just the first step on a long road for youngsters who are leaving the streets, but they will be monitored by the organisation as they are reintegrated into their communities and resume their schooling.

For perhaps the first time in their young lives, these teenagers can hold their heads up high as they join the rest of the country in celebrating National Youth Day.

The I Care Adolescent Development Programme is entirely dependent on donations from the public and business sector.

The programme that has just ended was made possible by the Southern Sun group.

If you would like to make a contribution to the cost of running the next programme, these are the banking details for the organisation: Nedbank, Account number 1648064566, KZN Business Branch, Code 164826.

For inquiries, call Linda Treadwell at 083 479 3941 or 031 572 6870, or visit the I Care website at: www.icare.co.za

Uganda: Kabale to Build Remand Home for Street Children
The Monitor (Kampala)

16 June 2008
Posted to the web 16 June 2008

Robert Muhereza
Kabale

The problem of street childern in Kabale District may soon come to an end after the completion of a multi-million vulnerable children’s home, a project being undertaken by Lift Jesus Global Ministries Church through its project of Hope Africa Children Ministry.

The church leader, Mr Aloysius Kiiza revealed this on Tuesday while addressing the press at the site in Nyakambu Kirigime ward in Kabale municipality.

About 100 former street and orphaned children are being housed and rehabilitated. He explained that the idea was hatched after a survey on the causes of the increasing numbers of street children in the district.

"We established that domestic violence, the HIV epidemic and early pregnancies are some of the causes of the rising number of street children, " Mr Kiiza said. "We have decided to construct a permanent home for these vulnerable children so that they can have hope for a better future."

He said well wishers from the United States, Compassion International and other friends of Lift up Jesus Global ministries church are some of the founders of the childrens rehabilitation programme.

Mr Kizza said about 60 former street children who were picked from the streets in 2004, have been rehabilitated and are currently undergoing primary and secondary school education.

"We thank God for this achievement and pray he helps us to raise the money to rehabilitate more children in south western Uganda," Apostle Kizza said.

He said most of the children have confessed to pick pocketing, drug use especially marijuana and sniffing of petrol as common practices.

"We are proud to have rehabilitated these street kids into God fearing persons," Mr Kiiza added saying several abandoned babies have also been rescued.

He said Kabale Referral Hospital has supported their project by supplying ARVs drugs to HIV infected street children. Mr Kizza said lack of enough facilities to cater for the children is the biggest challenge the centre is currently experiencing.

Proposal on stateless people, street kids
14 June, 2008

Kota Kinabalu: A third country may be asked to accept Sabah’s stateless people and street children.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar, who floated the idea, said this could be one of the solutions to the perennial illegal immigrant problem in the State.

He said while deporting illegal immigrants could be done easily it was the Stateless people and street children that posed a big problem.

"If we can identify (the illegals) like, for instance, that they are from Indonesia or the Philippines, we can give them travel documents that come from their embassies and then send them back.

"Where we have problem is when the people do not have anything, some not even a birth certificate É no country wants to accept them," he said at the end of this two-day visit, here, Friday.

In light of this, he said banking on countries willing to take in these people could be a good idea.

"Like the Rohingyas (in the peninsula), we previously discussed with the United States who were willing to accept about a few thousand into their country," Syed Hamid said.

He said apart from these issues, Malaysia also had other things to consider pertaining to Stateless people and streetchildren such as human rights, children’s rights and international law.

The United Nations considers those without documents and not accepted by their countries as refugees, he said.

"The most complex issue is people without documents É how are we to deal with this? We cannot simply take and send them to some country (as) they will say ‘they are not ours’.

"But we can understand the fear of the locals," Syed Hamid said, adding they had deported more than 100,000 illegal immigrants since 2000.

He said the Cabinet Committee on illegal immigrants headed by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak would meet soon to discuss solutions and areas to tackle in Sabah as well as other parts of the country.

"Ultimately I think we will have people who (really) understand the issue, which is complex and technical É it cannot be only from our side. We will call up people from the State," he said.

He also urged the people in Sabah not to be overly sensitive and emotional about the issue, adding the media could help in this matter.

To a question, he said there was no need for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to look into claims that illegals obtained identity cards through the backdoor.

"I think we have stated, where they are Malaysians we cannot go back to question their rights as citizens.

"I cannot question (for instance) when I look at you and ask because you look different from me where do you come from, how did you get your citizenship. That is not within my power.

"I think citizens are bound by the constitution of the country.

"And I do not think (for) every issue we face we have to establish a Royal Commission," Syed Hamid said.

THE Government is thinking about placing anti-narcotics officers in certain countries to better combat the drug menace.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid said Malaysia could secure more valuable information, especially on international drug rings if the officers, called drug liaison officers, were stationed outside the country and worked with the enforcement authorities there.

"We have our intelligence and police-to-police relations with (for example) Interpol but sometimes it is good to have our people there to improve intelligence gathering and moreover the interaction would be on a constant basis.

"I am seriously looking into this possibility, at how best we can do it," he said after a briefing with the heads of the Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (NCID).

Also present was Bukit Aman NCID director Datuk Zulhasnan Mohd Najib.

He said based on the briefing they found that there was a tendency for international drug syndicates to use Malaysia as their transit point.

Syed Hamid is also worried about Malaysians being manipulated by the syndicates and being used as couriers for drugs.

"We looked at their modus operandi at how they lure our people, especially girls, to be part of their syndicate, even to the extent of pretending to want to marry them.

"And they (Malaysians) end up being arrested outside the country," he said.

He explained that Malaysia has its Special Branch officers, for instance in Thailand, but their tasks involve mainly gathering of general intelligence.

"They (Special Branch officers) look out for everything, and it is not they cannot do the work, but we do not want to overburden them.

"Since we have the NCID, we want to have these liaison officers there where they will focus only on drugs," Syed Hamid said.

But he admitted the implementation of this programme might take a while.

"The sooner we can do it the better but we have to take into account the technical and logistical requirements. It cannot be implemented immediately."

Rwanda: Tougher Approach Needed for Street Children School
The New Times (Kigali)

12 June 2008
Posted to the web 12 June 2008

Kigali

School of Champions, a newly established rehabilitation and vocational training facility for former street children situated in Rwamagana, is already experiencing problems.

Sponsored by a continental NGO - African Evangelistic Enterprises - the project intends to save street children from destitute life. By so doing, the school will also take some burden off the foster homes that feed the school.

Understandably, the challenges the school is faced with in just a space of two weeks are related to indiscipline. It is not even a month after starting and the adapted kids are capable of finding their way out to look for drugs.

A journalist who caught up with the lads and inquired into their short experience was largely greeted by lamentation. They complained bitterly of being underfed, confessing their wish to return to the foster homes.

The school administration refutes the children’s allegations of inadequate food, pointing to their complicated past life as a gripping negative influence they will take time to be separated from.

The director of the school also observed that with the children still able to access drugs, crying for more food is expected. The approach used by the faith-based institution leans heavily on persuasion, with little or no coercion at all.

The kids are preached to with the hope that over time the word of God will penetrate deep enough to cause change of mindset to that which appreciates decent current and future life. The first month has been devoted to such intensive teachings.

Perhaps it is too early to have real fears as to whether the objectives will be achieved. Nevertheless, it still might be reasonable considering a mixed approach even at this early stage, say by tightening the school rules.

Sealing the entrances and exits to control unwanted movement of children and commodities is a thing the administration may want to consider. The school may also take a less defensive position and delve into the alleged matters of insufficient food quantities.

It is our view that even as we make the suggestions above, the unenviable task at the hands of the NGO, given the nature of the engagement, must be appreciated.

Zambia: Government Fails to Break the Street Kid Addiction
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks

11 June 2008
Posted to the web 11 June 2008

Lusaka

A pilot project to rehabilitate thousands of children living on the streets of the Zambian capital of Lusaka is failing because government is excluding civil society from the programme, civic leaders are claiming.

Two years ago, the government began recruiting Lusaka’s street kids and placing them into training centres under the auspices of the Zambia National Service - a department of the government’s national security services that also includes the police and army - to provide them trade skills, such as carpentry and tailoring.

But following their graduation from life and trade skills training, the street kids are returning to their old lives, as there has been no planning by government on how the skills could be utilized by the street kids to their benefit.

"We have not planned well in terms of the exit strategy. There is so much government resources that have gone into rehabilitating street kids over the last two years, but there is no thinking as to where the children will go after training," Godfridah Sumaili, chairperson of the Children In Need Network, a coalition of nongovernmental organisations working with orphans and vulnerable children, told IRIN.

"This programme is failing, mostly because government has not worked closely with the civil society. It was executed without the involvement of the civil society. Government should ensure that civil society is fully involved in terms of helping to resettle these [trained] children," he said.

This programme is failing, mostly because government has not worked closely with civil society. It was executed without the involvement of civil society

Moses Phiri, 15, is one of thousands of Zambia’s street kids who were sent to one of the training centres, but since completing his rehabilitation has returned to his old haunts and ways, begging on the streets for money.

"I [have] lived like this since 2001 when [my] parents died. I sleep in ditches. If I see people carrying plastic bags, I ask to help. They give anything, maybe 1,000 kwacha [US$ 0.30], maybe more. I was forced to leave [the] streets, but that programme is not good, it’s not helping us," Phiri told IRIN.

Street life exposes children to violence, exploitative and hazardous labour conditions, such as sex-work and child trafficking, and a plan to counter these influences was drawn up by government in 2006.

For nearly two years the Street Kids Rehabilitation programme has been targeting male children on the streets and recruiting them to one of three training centres situated in Copper Belt and Eastern provinces and one centre on the outskirts of Lusaka.

The pilot project is only targeting boys from Lusaka at this stage and not from any other urban areas in Zambia as yet.

Since the programme’s inception in late 2006, government estimates that more than 1,200 children have successfully completed the skills training and rehabilitation programme, although only a handful of them have managed to earn a living from the skills they have acquired.

"If they [government] want me to leave [the streets], let them also give me job. They take me to camp, they teach me English, they teach me to make beds, to make chairs; but they don’t give me a job after. They give me tools. I sold them for a cheap price. So, I have come back to start begging again, nothing has changed. I have no supporter [sponsor], I beg to live," Phiri said.

The addiction of street life

Poverty and HIV/AIDS are often cited as the major factors responsible for Zambia’s growing numbers of street children.

About two-thirds of Zambia’s 12 million people live on US$1 or less per day, while UNAIDS estimated that about 17 percent of people aged between 15 and 49 years old are infected with HIV/AIDS.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that Zambia has about 1,25 million orphans, or one in every four children, and of those orphans about 50 percent are 10 years-old or younger.

According to government figures, there are about 75,000 street children in Zambia, although unofficial estimates put the figure at about twice that number.

The minister of community development Catherine Namugala, whose department is also involved in the street kid rehabilitation programme, told IRIN the government could not be wholly blamed for street children returning to their old ways after graduating from the training camps.

"It must be appreciated that these skills are just meant to help the children stand on their own, and not continue begging on the streets. The problem is that they are addicted to street life. Street life is addictive.

When a child goes on the street, first he gets scared of the environment but afterwards, he becomes used to it and it is very difficult to rehabilitate him once he reaches that stage

"When a child goes on the street, first he gets scared of the environment but afterwards, he becomes used to it and it is very difficult to rehabilitate him once he reaches that stage," Namugala said.

"We give these children tools to use in their new trade, but the problem is that they want everything to be done for them. Government can’t create jobs for everyone, that’s why we are empowering our children to become self-reliant and, above all, to instill discipline in them," she said.

Viola Kamutumwa, a child care specialist and consultant, said if the skills programme was to succeed, government had to change its approach and instill a sense of independence and entrepreneurial know-how.

"Government should be telling these children the truth that they have to fight for their own survival after the training," she said.

"Children need to be constantly reminded that there is no market for their services, but they have to create it themselves, otherwise they forget and the end product is what we are seeing now - they are back on the streets," Kamutumwa said.

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]

Ghana: Porters, Street Kids Registered for NHIS
Ghanaian Chronicle (Accra)

9 June 2008
Posted to the web 9 June 2008

Ernest Best Anane
Kumasi

THE SUBIN Sub-Metro Mutual Health Insurance, in collaboration with the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), has moved to register porters and street-children in the metropolis, to enable the less-privileged in the area access healthcare, under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

The programme resulted from the realization that most of the porters were located in the Subin area.

Launching the mass registration, Ms Esther Odoom, Scheme Manager, noted that most of the porters were dying of malaria, and other common diseases, because they cannot afford medical costs.

About 2,000 porters and street-kids were registered at the launch of the exercise, with 800 of them getting it virtually for free, while about 1,200 would pay the premium of GH¢7.2, with the scheme footing the other component of a GH¢4 processing fee for each of them.

Ms Patricia Appiagyei, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the KMA, commended the Subin Sub-Metro for the foresight, in involving porters and street-children in accessing quality healthcare, under the NHIS.

She appealed to traditional leaders, churches and religious groupings, and heads of institutions, to encourage people to register, and reap the benefits of the scheme.

Peru: Red Alert scheme helps vulnerable street children

A new ‘early intervention’ project in the Peruvian capital Lima is aiming to help vulnerable street children before they encounter those who seek to exploit them.

UK based charity Toybox and its partner Viva Latin America have set up Red Alert to identify and get help to newly homeless children within hours or days of finding themselves alone on the streets. ‘Lookouts’ who are trained to spot these children, are recruited as volunteers from local churches, people already working on the streets with the children in existing projects, and those working in the market places.

San Juan de Lurigancho and Cercado de Lima have the largest concentration of street children in the city. In 2006, San Juan de Lurigancho had the highest number of reports of family and sexual violence in Lima, and was rated 4th in all the country. The number of working children in San Juan de Lurigancho and Cercado de Lima is close to 5,000.

Carlos, 10, who arrived from the Peruvian mountains to work on the streets of San Juan of Lurigancho during his school holidays is just one of the children who had been helped by the Red Alert team.

At first he cleaned cars. Later he sold sweets and sang songs on the buses to earn a little money. When his holiday ended and it was time to go home, he did not have enough money for his return fare. With no money for rent, he had to look for a park bench to sleep on. He was in great danger of becoming a street child permanently.

Two days passed, until he was found by one of the Red Alert team who look out for new arrivals on the street. Carlos is now part of a residential home programme and is being helped to find his family and return home.