The world observed International Day for Street Children on April 12. A reality check by Rev Reuben G Laloo
SITTING IN the coziness of a cabin in a nice restaurant and perhaps holding the hand of your loved one who is sitting on the other side of the table, the worst thing you dread is for someone to barge in with, ‘Bah thied kwai seh’ (Sir, please buy some betel nut). Those intrusive kids with baskets tied on their necks spread with kwai (betel nut), cigarettes, etc, invade your privacy, disturb the flow of your gut-level talks and may even spoil your date. It is not uncommon for people to shoo them away as trespassers and nosy pushy vendors too eager to make a good sale. But are they really so?
Take the case of Wankmen (name changed). After the death of his mother who sold kwai in the streets, he and his two little sisters were left to fend for themselves at a very young age. The father has gone on to marry another woman, the girls returned to the village in West Khasi Hills to live with their poor grandparents. The son had nowhere to turn to but to live with his father whose new wife hates him. Wankmen is forced to live in a house of hatred, of verbal abuse from his stepmother and the drunkard father, made to sell newspaper and earn for his father and his new wife. His day starts as early as 4:30 am and ends late into the night. Just when you think it is unbearable, Wankmen also has to work at home, face the exploitation of fellow vendors, endure the threats from customers who don’t make full payment of the papers they buy, besides the enormous peer pressure of spending off the hard-earned money for some beer, smoking and other simple pleasures.
Worse still are those who are abandoned on the streets. Like Ratul, (name changed) abandoned at young age and left to nature, he has become the face of street children in Shillong with his trademark smile, a bowl in hand and a faltering gait. Raised by the other people in the street, he has learned to do just about anything for the sake of the next meal or a sniff of dendrite. Suffering from epilepsy, living with AIDS, prone to all skin infections; his plight cannot be reduced to words. This is the reality of life of a child in the streets of Shillong.
Street children facts
INDIA IS home to the world’s largest child population as 40% (approx 400 million) of India population is below the age of 18 years. Unfortunately, India has a statistics of street children in all states. UNICEF’s estimate of 11 million street children in India is considered to be a conservative figure. The problem of street children has become a reality in the streets of Shillong too. A news item was published in the Shillong Times dated 8 July 2011 informing of the growing number of street children in Shillong city. UNICEF categorizes the street children into two main categories: “Children on the street” are those engaged in some kind of economic activity ranging from begging to vending. Most go home at the end of the day and contribute their earnings to their family. They may be attending school and retain a sense of belonging to a family. Because of the economic fragility of the family, these children may eventually opt for a permanent life on the streets. “Children of the street” actually live on the street (or outside of a normal family environment). Family ties may exist but are tenuous and are maintained only casually or occasionally.
Shillong city witness both categories of street children. However, it is interesting to note that street children in Shillong can further be classified on the basis of their ethnicity. For example, Shillong has Khasi street children. They mostly engaged themselves as street vendors, selling kwai, tobacco, bookmark, etc. The second group consists of non-Khasi speaking children. They are engage in picking up rags, working in tea shops, restaurant, workshop, etc. They belong to different communities like the Nepali, Bengali, Garos. Most of them are children of migrant Muslim workers from Assam.
Street children in Shillong: Causes, risks and conditions
THE PHENOMENON of street children has come into existence in the street of Shillong because of factors such as migration from rural to urban areas, orphan state, poverty, broken families, abuse and neglect, peer pressure, exploitation by adults/stepparents, abandonment, and so on. It cannot be denied that some of them have strayed into the streets due to peer pressure and the desire to be free from parental care triggered by some mild problems.
Like other children on the street, street children in Shillong are children at risk. They are at risk from being trafficked, risk from all forms of abuses (physical, verbal, sexual), malnourishment, stalking, risk of an early marriage, risk of being affected with HIV and AIDS, Tuberculosis and other diseases. According to June Warbah, project manager of FXB, “there is a possibility of street children becoming drug peddlers just to earn some easy money doing this job. Peddlers view street children as potential means of marketing and transporting drugs and lure them by letting them get hooked to the drug or giving them a share in the sale of goods” .Of all , Girls street children are the most vulnerable as they are forced to early marriage by their parents or risk that fear of being trafficked. Street Children in Shillong exposed themselves to pornography and all other forms of social evils prevailing in the society. Some of the activities they do on the street are going to cinema halls, gambling which is the street favourite past time, picking up rags, sniffing dendrite and other inhalant glue, pick-pocketing In the backdrop of being the children at risk, the Street children in Shillong like in any other part of the world yearned for a life of dignity. Child’s rights unfortunately all these rights are being violated or not even experience. Consequently, as per Government statistic there is an increase in juvenile delinquency.
The condition of street children is a sad reality. According to RSM records there are about 300-350 children on the streets of Shillong and its adjoining suburbs and they are increasing by the day. Their average ages are 33% from 6-10 yrs, 40% from 11-15 yrs and 27% are 16 yrs and above. Streets have become their workplace, home and playground and in such a situation they are engaged in the following activities which are unexpected from kids like rag picking, begging, substance abuse/ alcoholism, pick-pocketing, unnatural sex activity, gambling, exposure to pornography and other evils.
Changing our perspectives
SOCIETY, AS a whole, regards these children as antisocial elements and an embarrassment to the community. In fact we associate street children with begging, peddling, stealing, sniffing, and loitering. They are often seen as threats to the society. Every time they pass through the streets they are looked with suspicion.
However it is important that we look beyond them and see them as they really are: victims of the social system and the brunt of social and governmental apathy. We should also not lose sight of their useful contribution to society and ecology which is little understood and generally ignored. The waste collected by these children is recycled and produces 25% of the writing paper, the packing materials, egg trays, economical plastic and metal household items, etc., used in our homes. This benefits society and world ecology enormously by the production of cheaper household goods, and the slowing down of the destruction of the already threatened rainforests. The rag pickers valuable contribution to society should not be ignored and taken for granted.
We must realize that a street child has the same potential as any other child, given the opportunity. In fact life on the streets has taught them to be more resilient and resourceful and the so-called embarrassing activities they indulge in are often their survival strategies. Street children see themselves as able to make a positive contribution to society despite often negative attitudes towards them. Being a street child is not a crime. Heavy handed treatment by authorities – such as violence and round-ups – is all too common and must be reviewed. Rather than treat them as criminals authorities should understand the reasons for street children’s behaviour and provide support.
Let us treat these children with dignity and give them a chance to develop too. We should also be cautious in dealing with them but at the same time we should seize every opportunity give them love and support whenever we can.
Like Wankmen or Ratul, most of the street children did not choose life on the street, but they were forced or rather circumstances have thrown them to the streets. They need your support and Reach Shillong Ministries humbly seek to see people like them brought into the mainstream by providing opportunities for education, care and security. While celebrating the International Day for Street Children we appeal to one and all, let us join hands to see these deprived, unloved, uncared for section of our society being given the due dignity, life and future that they deserve.
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