Living on the streets: the child who is not homeless
by Judy Fitzpatrick
On April 19, 1986 when Donna Boodhoo (not her real name) gave birth to her first son, Sam, (not his real name), it was a dream come true. He was her little prince who would grow up, get a good job and make the family proud. Now, thirteen years later, Boodhoo says her dream child is "nothing but an embarrassment to the family." Sam is one of the many children whose place of abode is the streets of Georgetown. He has been living on the streets since he was about eleven years old. Sam who is the second of six children lived with his mother and siblings until he was about five. His father died when he was three, and because of financial hardships, Sam was sent to live with his aunt. He attended a nearby primary school, wrote the Secondary School Entrance Examination, and was awarded a place at the Dolphin Community High School which he attended on an irregular basis for a short while. Sam's mother believes that it was at his aunt's home that her son became wayward. "She allow he to go home any time a the nights, and he start sleeping on the steps when he go home too late," Donna said. "Is when I go by she, then she tell me he don't come home in de nights." Sam became rude and it was increasingly difficult to discipline him. By the time Donna decided to take her son back, it was too late. "He stopped going to school completely and start begging on de road," she said. Sam's version of how he ended up on the streets is that he was subjected to verbal abuse at his mother's house. He added that while living with his aunt, he returned home late one night after going to a party with a friend. According to Sam, his aunt told him to, "go back where you come from." "I had nowhere to go so I went by me friend [who was homeless]," he said, "we went on Camp street and beg for money to buy food." The teen added that his friend took him to a dilapidated building located at the junction of Wellington and Regent streets and he started sleeping there at nights. He continued begging around the city for money for a daily meal until the Drop-in-Centre for Street Children opened its doors on April 23, last year. The centre is a project of the Human Services Ministry in collaboration with UNICEF and is temporarily located in the Sacred Heart Church compound on Main Street. The programme of the Drop-in-Centre which opens from 8:00 am to about 4:00 pm, Mondays to Fridays, includes academic work, life skills training, health education and the inculcation of social graces. The children also benefit from two meals daily. The centre is heavily dependent on voluntary staff and donations from civil society as the budgetary allocation from the Human Services Ministry is severely limited in terms of human resources and financial commitment. Since it has opened, about sixty-five street children have passed through the centre and about four have returned to their families. On any given day between six to eighteen children go to the centre. Administrator, Sylvia Conway said that the children are not physically punished but disciplined through positive feedback. Conway said it is difficult to develop a child in a particular area because many of them do not go to the centre regularly. "If we have eight children here, that is eight less children stealing, molesting, and being a nuisance to people on the streets," Conway said. Sam wakes at about six in the morning, goes to the streets and "begs for a raise," he then goes to the centre during the morning and returns to his sanctuary at Wellington street where he claims to spend the rest of the day. "I does play gam with me friends and sometimes go in the cinema," Sam said. "Sometimes, on weekends, when the rain falls and we can't beg I does got to starve." Sam explained that he buys cigarettes about two times a week and smokes it with his friends. He also admitted to drinking alcohol on a few occasions. The thirteen-year-old wants to become a soldier, he longs to be adopted and wants to go back to school. He said he is afraid of returning home because he is afraid of being sent to the New Opportunity Corps, informally known as the 'boys school.' His mother said she had resolved to send him to the boys' school because of his behaviour. However the centre's co-ordinator said only the court can determine if a child is sent to the Corps. Sam last saw his mother in December of 1999, and claims she punished him severely and cut up his slippers, "so when she ask me fo fetch a bucket a water, I get away." His mother said that when her son visited in December he was disciplined for hitting his younger sister. She admitted to destroying his footwear because he refused to remain home when asked to. "Is only five times he come home since he deh pon the street and all five times he get away," Donna said; "he get everything he want, we don't short he nothing at home." But Sam has resolved to continue living on the streets. "Me mother ain't want me," he alleges, "and I ain't going back." A UNICEF funded survey found that about seventy children between the ages of seven to sixteen live on and off the streets of Georgetown. However, only about twenty are actually homeless and live permanently on the streets. The others have a choice but prefer to be on the streets. The Ministry of Human Services and Social Security's Chief Probation Officer, Nigel Cromarty, told Sunday Stabroek that his ministry had long-term plans to establish 'half way houses' for street children in the city. He said that apart from the Drop-in-Centre the ministry does not operate any other projects in Georgetown for homeless and street children. Deputy Chief Probation and Family Welfare Officer (Ag), Ann Greene, told this newspaper that the Ministry plans to work more closely with parents to help reduce the number of children on the streets: "We plan to bring on stream a care-givers' seminar to train persons who work with children and in the children's home... We will find out what difficulties families are facing and see how we can help out. If the child is delinquent then they will be sent to the New Opportunity Corps, which is a training institution." She mentioned, however, that this is a just a proposal and funding has not yet been approved. Greene also made mention of long term plans to establish a more permanent home for the street children and plans to augment curriculum activities. Conway of the Centre recommends that parents desist from bribing their children by buying them expensive things to encourage them to stay home. She said a family unit should be cohesive so that when gifts are not there the child would not leave. She is of the view that parents need to be educated more and that they should be able to talk to their children. "If you discipline a child, let them know what they are being disciplined for; don't just beat them... this makes a child want to leave the home," Conway said. She is of the view that parents should make the home a comfortable place to live in so that children would remain at home. Many street children get involved in dangerous activities including petty theft, the drug trade and prostitution.
|