Give up something or give in of self for street children; The International Day for Street Children. 31st January.

              The International Day for Street Children. 31st January.

        Street children have been identified by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) as children in difficult circumstances and their rights and welfare remains a growing concern to both national and international bodies.

Street children differ in age, gender, ethnicity, social class, and these children have had different experiences throughout their lifetimes. UNICEF differentiates between the different types of children living on the street in three different categories:

Candidates for the street (street children who work and hang out on the streets),

Children on the streets (children who work on the street but have a home to go to at night), and Children of the street (children who live on the street without family support)

UNICEF suggested that there are tens of millions of street-based children, and this number continues to rise in low- and middle-income countries because of increased urbanization, economic depression and widespread poverty, health challenges of parents, the HIV epidemic, migration and global population growth. These children do not enjoy their basic human rights. These involve in particular their access to basic social services such as health, education, nutrition, protection, environmental sustainability, etc Poverty is the major reason for these kids being on the street where for many parents ,it is becoming an overwhelming task to provide adequate care, love, protection and full attention to their children. Other causes are trafficking and exploitation, war situations authoritative parenting, death of a parent, dysfunctional and degrading family fabric, and the erosion of traditional values of solidarity.

The majority of the participants were boys, with many of them resorting to begging, stealing, drug abuse, telling lies, sex work, street fighting, drunkenness and other risky behaviors with very little public support. Street children in every country are developmentally at risk, and the longer they stay on the streets, the worse their situation becomes due to lack of protection, adult supervision and the framework of a family which lays the foundation for healthy growth and development. No doubt most of these children are despised as they engage in all sorts of unhealthy practices on the street.

The phrase ‘street children’ has not been the only term referring to such children; they have been identified by various terms, including ‘nnagaboko’ , ‘don for quart’ ,‘teenage beggars’, ‘homeless kids’, ‘SDF’ ,‘street boys’, ‘park boys’, ‘city nuisance’ and ‘children in difficult circumstances’.

Because of their less recognized and underdeveloped status, street children are regarded as ‘vulnerable’ worldwide  yet their well-being and health profile have not been given adequate attention. The preventive and remedy mechanisms are ineffective and inadequate leaving this vulnerable group of children to survive on the street by themselves, without proper adult supervision.

Most of these kids are find it really hard surviving; continuous police arrest, ill health due to mosquito bites, sexual abuse, exposure to very cold weather, malnutrition, drinking dirty water, self medication side effects, and the list goes on.

 

 

PUBLIC APPROACHES TO STREET CHILDREN

There are four categories of how societies deal with street children: Correctional model, Rehabilitative model, Outreach strategies, and Preventive approach.

• The Correctional system is primarily used by governments and the police. They view children as a public nuisance and are a risk to public security. The objective of this model would be to protect the public and help keep the kids away from a life of crime by justice systems and juvenile specific institutions.
• The Rehabilitative system is mainly initiated by NGOs and churches whereby street children are viewed as damaged kids and are in need of help with objective to rehabilitate children into society. The methods used to keep children from going back to the streets are education, drug detoxification programs, and providing children with a safe family-like environment.
• The Outreach strategy is supported by NGOs, and church organizations and persons of good will. This strategy views street children as oppressed individuals in need of support from their communities. The objective of the Outreach strategy is to empower the street children by providing outreach education and training to support children.
• The Preventive approach is supported by NGOs, and government initiatives. They view street children’s poor circumstances from the negative social and economic forces. In order to help street children, this approach focuses on the problems that cause children to leave their homes for the street by targeting parents’ unemployment, societal reinsertion programs

WAY FORWARD

-. Rehabilitation emergency; These kids need a ‘safe’ place to stay. They are exposed to violence and all forms of abuse at night. It’s an utmost priority.

- These children need psychological support because of their experiences on the streets.

- Creation of a special health care system that will include and target street children, offering health support, general education and reproductive health as these kids are at increased risk of unwanted pregnancy and contracting HIV/AIDS and/or other STDs with general deteriorating health profiles.
-Development of non-formal education opportunities, which is diversified to suit the different intellectual levels of these kids helping them to integrate society.
-Emphasize the functionality of juvenile correctional systems whereby instead of unreasonable sentences of juveniles without adequate defense, they be sent to adequate correctional homes so they are being given the necessary help they need rather than prison term.
- Government action as often is very minimal and ineffective. Intervention strategies exist in theory and laws under, but are not being implemented in practice. A process to review existing legislation on strengthening children’s welfare is adamant.
- Identity Campaign should be launched whereby these kids get legal recognition for example having birth certificates so that they are no longer invisible and ignored.

As children roam the streets in search of shelter, food and other basic needs, their future hangs in the balance. Understanding the plight of street children highlights the need for immediate design and implementation of intervention strategies to prevent children from living in the streets and assist those who have become street children.

Commemorated every year on the January 31^st, although there are some initiatives demanding UN to observe 12^th April as the International Day for Street Children ,the Street Children’s Day highlights the plight of these children. These are just kids who experience violence and abuse, without care and love, homeless. Children whose playground is the streets, where they run for their lives if they happen to smash a street lamp or accidently push off a seller’s article, children who do drugs, rob, beg, hawk stolen articles, prostitute or do anything for their basic needs. Children who give birth on the streets, lie in illness to death, they scavenge bins for your rags to be clothed, compete with animals for your leftovers to be able to feed. These are kids who dream of chocolates, ice-cream like ordinary kids with homes, food, clean clothes, good parenting, education and opportunities to attain their full potentials yet due to their circumstances, all they have is what the street has to offer.

We can’t afford to remain indifferent about all this. We can do our own bit towards making the society a better place for the children. Let us all endeavour to make a little difference in their lives. It is such small efforts that have made a huge difference in many a life. For there are indeed many successful adults the world over, who grew up in the streets but ended up successful because someone went all out for them; gave them love, shelter, food, education and in some cases, gave them their names. So nothing is too small.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE, TAKE ACTION

Donate money to causes genuinely working to rehabilitate street children in some form

Sponsor a child’s education

Give a child an opportunity to shine at some work

Direct them to street children homes in your locality

Volunteer at these homes to share your love, passion and empowerment to these kids

Educate and inform street children, about how they could live, earn and enjoy, being on the right side of the law

Do something meaningful every 31^st January, for the cause of the street children

If nothing else, give them a smile each time you pass them by.