“No man is a true believer unless he desires for his brother that what he desires for himself” [Bukhari]
Street Freedom, Mohammad Anwar, DAWN, 12 December 2002
Thirteen year-old Zahid spends his nights at Cantt railway station in Karachi. He makes his living selling whatever waste paper and bottles he can collect and is desperate to find shelter, not to mention someone who would care for him. “I only hada few biscuits for dinner as I could not earn much,” said Zahid, settling down on a concrete chair for another night at Cantt station. He added shyly: “I make good money if I am hired by guys for a ‘massage’.” Massage is a euphemism for sex and Zahid’s revelation merely confirms that street children, both boys and girls, are commonly abused by pedophiles.
Zahid has been on the streets for three years. “I have nobody. I came to Karachi with an uncle who promised me a job, but I was left here to fend for myself.” This is just one of the many stories common amongst street children.
Ten-year-old Ziad, a professional scavenger, has never been to school but he is well versed in the economics of survival. If he sells 40 to 60 rupees worth of waste paper and plastic bags, he eats lunch; if he earns less, he goes without food and waits outside the restaurants for leftovers. Such is the cruel calculus of work and life on the streets.
It is frustrating to see the human face of so much suffering that could be alleviated with low cost interventions. Many children cannot afford the cost of going to school and, if they can, they have to take their own chair or sit on the floor. Many young people in Pakistan have no hope for the future. They have no faith either in their governments or in their families, which are failing them. The children head to the streets or join the ubiquitous gangs that have permeated society and provide the role of a surrogate family.
The problem of street children is universal. There are over 100 million street children in the world. The problem is comparatively high in those countries where there is rapid growth of urbanization. Cities like Mumbai, Calcutta, Manila, Zenario, Mexico City, Bangkok, Johannesburg and Nairobi are some of the examples where street children are found in large numbers. Those number havegrown in recent decades because of widespread recessions, political turmoil, civil unrest, increasing family disintegration, urban and rural poverty, natural disasters, growing urbanization and rapid industrialization.
…] In Pakistan, in a population of 135.6 million, more than 22.5 million are adolescents, which is a major proportion of the population. According to a survey conducted by Centre for Research and Social Development (CRSD), about 1.2 million children are on the streets in Pakistan’s large cities working as beggars, vendors or shoeshine boys. Children become homeless because of abuse and poverty and once on the streets, they are exposed to countless hazards, including child labour and sexual exploitation.
…] These children barely manage to get three meals a day. Many rely on leftover meals from restaurants and eating-places in the areas that they hang around. Many are also found in the vicinity of religious shrines where people donate food for the poor. Some live in the places of their work, on payment, in the bus stations or near the railway stations - constantly exposed to various risks.
…] Attaullah, 15, came to Karachi alone from Rahim Yar Khan after his father remarried following his mother’s death. “I ran away from home because my father was a drunkard and I didn’t have my mother. He wouldn’t let me go to school and would beat me. When I left home I came onto the streets and started looking for work. I was hungry for three days, but Istill didn’t beg. I will never go home but I do want to go to school.” Atta is among a few lucky children who has found a place (known as a Drop-In-Point) where he can get a wash, clothes and medical service. While living with a group of children on Burns road, he started glue sniffing with the other children.
…] Most of the street children come from poor agricultural backgrounds. Others’ parents are involved in several low-income jobs such as construction labour, driving, small business, carpets and tailoring. Only a very few street children belong to the middle class families.
…] The Edhi Foundation runs a centre called Apna Ghar (Our Home) for street children and the mentally ill, orphans and runaways. There are 10 such homes in the country out of which seven are located in Karachi. About 6000 people live in Edhi Homes. “A destitute or homeless person becomes a member of Edhi’s family once he/she enters its premises,” says Faisal.
He further adds that street children are the most deprived, marginalized and unprotected group. “They live in a world of their own, alienated from mainstream society. While they do develop survival skills and some degree of resourcefulness and self-reliance, their environment hardly holds out opportunities for access to social services, education and vocational skill’s training,” he says.
The CRSD study states that an alarming majority of runaway children are either resorting to, or are forced into, prostitution. Some boys "drifted"into prostitution or were preyed on by street gangs and marketplace mafia; some were picked off and sold into bonded labour. They all made pathetically small amounts of money, sums of anywhere between 60 to 90 rupees a day.
Pimps and pedophiles prowl around bus stations and are quick to identify runaway children. They offer the unsuspecting child promises of a job, money, board and lodge and eventually coerce the child into prostitution. Upon resistance, these sexual predators resort to threats and blackmail.
It is not uncommon for street children to be subjected to physical abuse by the police. They are frequently detained arbitrarily, simply because they are homeless, or criminally charged with vague offenses such as loitering, vagrancy or petty theft. They are tortured or beaten by police and often held for long periods in poor conditions.
…] To escape from their misery and past, street children often resort to glue sniffing. They either pour the glue onto a piece of cloth which they roll up and sniff, or pour the sticky substance into a shopping bag and hold it near their face. Some choose to enhance the pleasure by putting it in their mouths. It is easy and cheap to buy glue.
According to doctors, children sniffing glue start feeling dizzy, light-headed and drowsy, giving them a feeling of pleasure. Inhaling glue by covering the face causes the displacement of oxygen in the lungs and subsequently the central nervous system, causing breathing to cease. Ingredients in the glue are known to be addictive and cause side effects like loss of memory; effects on bones and joints. Their muscles stop working and there is a very real danger of going in to a coma. These chemicals also affect the central nervous system and respiratory system of the user.
…] On November 28, 2001 at a meeting in Islamabad, National Commission for Child Welfare and Development (NCCWD) formed a Working Group for the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Street Children, comprising members of NGOs and other civil society organizations working for the welfare of street children. But so far the group has done nothing except issue statements in the media about the pathetic conditions of the street children. Only a few NGOs have taken up the issue, and are working for rehabilitation services for these children in their limited capacity.
…] Joe Augustine, a street counselor and himself a recovered addict, says that these children need love, trust and concern; they need someone who has sympathy for them. Most of these children have been sexually abused in their early childhood, mostly by their own relatives or family members.
…] Most of the centre’s staff are rehabilitated addicts so they work with more enthusiasm and commitment. Augustine believes that we need to see the roots of the issue, which lie in poverty, family problems, and family abuse. They need love, sympathy and trust, they need the freedom that they enjoy on the street.
…] When conducting interviews with street children, TR learnt that their main survival strategies consisted of telling lies, in order to keep people at a distance, and to preserve a sympathetic view of their condition. ***They wanted to love and be loved; to have a role and to contribute. Their sense of self, the world, and of how to negotiate their realties and supports in them. They were aware of the threats and dangers, but not driven by them.
Despite being exposed to harsh realities, their wishes are very innocent: “I wish to be a decent person,” said one. Another said,“I wish to continue my education,” while another added, 'I wish to be rescued from the streets."***
…] As said by Faisal Edhi, “do not undermine them. They have enough potential and talent. If they are brought into a better environment, they are a real hope for future. Society should worry about what we’re doing to these kids by letting them live on the street and should ask some hard questions about why we’re not helping them as much as we should be.”