Child Month is for street children too

Dennie Quill, Gleaner Columnist

I have always been disturbed by the images of children who eke out a livelihood on the streets, especially as I see them as being victims of family-unit failure. So I was naturally drawn to a recent newspaper report about celebration of the first International Day for Street Children. It seemed to have been a non-event in Jamaica.

Launched by the London-based Consortium for Street Children on April 12, the campaign is titled 'Louder Together', and aims to give a voice to street children around the world and help them connect with policymakers so they may be given access to education, shelter, protection, and other rights guaranteed by the universally accepted covenant on the rights of children. This initiative stems from the fact that millions of children in developed countries, and more so in the Third World, struggle daily to fend off abuse, hunger and exclusion.

The consortium works through its membership to help street children in 130 countries, and this campaign is supported by one of the UK's insurance giants. It is certainly good news that this group aims to put half a million children back into schools or training programmes by the year 2015.

do more for our boys

It is a point that has been made repeatedly: A country's economic progress and development is measured by the happiness and welfare of its people, particularly the most vulnerable, which would include the elderly and children. Yet, we see that our youth, particularly our boys, are in crisis, and they need to be given a better chance at becoming worthwhile citizens.

Thankfully, we have a number of child-rights advocates and civil-society groups who have been assisting some of these children in finding a viable alternative to hustling on the streets, and removing them from their squalid world. But, generally speaking, we have failed to live up to our responsibilities as parents and as custodians of the youth.

The solution to this burgeoning problem cannot be left to the NGO community and service clubs. The Government needs to find real strategies to deal with the problem and move to rehabilitate as many of these children as possible. Short-term public-relations campaigns do not count. For example, each year in May, we celebrate Child Month with loads of pomp and ceremony. How about making Child Month a platform from which to launch an intensive national programme to deal with the plight of our street children?

collin's example

Take Collin (not his real name), for example, who has been on the streets for more than six years. He decided to start begging or wipe windscreen to support his family at the age of 11. His sister suffers from complications associated with sickle-cell anaemia, and his illiterate mother has no skills to get a job, and her attempts at buying and selling have failed miserably. I have watched Collin grow up on the streets. His face has become hardened by his experience. No longer the happy, smiling boy, with perfect white teeth, Collin now wears a permanent scowl and appears quite menacing. His teeth are stained and he looks unkempt.

Once he told me that a man had promised him a job, and my heart sank. There was something sinister in the way he said it. My heart sank because I know that someone like Collin is a magnet for paedophiles and drug pushers. Many like Collin are desperate to find an alternative to their brutish existence on the nation's harsh streets.

So, as we prepare to celebrate Child Month, let us dedicate 2011 to the street children of our country, bringing them a step closer to accessing the rights they have been guaranteed, so that they, too, can take their place in society.

Dennie Quill is a veteran media practitioner. Email feedback to denniequill@hotmail.com.