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Prevalence,
Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the first decade of the 21st Century gvnet.com/streetchildren/SouthAfrica.htm |
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ARCHIVES [Part 2 of 2] CAUTION: The following links and
accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation
in South Africa. Some of these links
may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or
even false. No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or
to verify their content. Homeless bear the brunt of the big chill Sumayya Ismail, Mail &
Guardian Online, mg.co.za/article/2007-05-23-homeless-bear-the-brunt-of-big-chill [accessed 22 July 2011] In Braamfontein, The centre in Simmonds Street has handed out about 1 500
blankets, and expects to give out about 5 000 in total. For meals, it
caters to about 400 people in the morning and another 600 in the afternoon,
primarily serving soup and bread, but also curries and rice, depending on the
donations it receives. Shelter Programme Twilight Children www.twilightchildren.co.za/about-us/programmes/shelter-aftercare-and-reunification/item/58-shelter-programme.html [accessed 11 Aug 2013] SHELTER PROGRAMME - The Twilight
Children Shelter programme is a voluntary
residential facility for children who no longer wish to reside on the
street. During their stay in the
shelter, Twilight Children assumes the role of 'parents' to these children
and provides for their physical and emotional needs.They
help extensively with reunification of Children with their parents in
circumstances of poverty. We house these children at Twilight during the
week to allow them to go to schools and at weekends and holidays we
give them transport money and food parcels to take home so they can spend
time with their parents. Children are
looked after by child care workers on a 24 hour basis. Their role is to
provide whatever it takes to ensure the successful rehabilitation and reinteration of these marginalised
youngsters back into mainstream society.
The children attend formal schools both in Soweto and Johannesburg,
and social religious and cultural activities are arranged to provide them
opportunities for personal growth. Port. priest brings hope to homeless
children Laois Nationalist, May
17, 2007 At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly also be accessible [here] [accessed 22 July 2011] There are hundreds of
children, both boys and girls, who live on the streets. For most street
children a cardboard box and newspaper are their only source of shelter. Fr.
Michael's support, guidance and training programmes
are often their only opportunity to get off the streets. The Learn to Live
Project provides one of the few educational and skills training programmes in Capetown that is
aimed specifically at street children. "We aim to improve their
self-image, reduce aggressiveness and bring structure into their lives, to
make them employable. The ultimate goal is to re-integrate street youth into
mainstream society," says Fr. Michael. The Sixteen Plus Programme is an outreach programme
designed around the needs of youths over 16 years, the majority of whom have
lived on the streets for many years. Huge rise in number of children living on Lynn Williams, April 18, 2007 [accessed 5 January 2017] The growing number
of street children in He said the
children were committing crimes like housebreaking, snatching handbags,
breaking into motor vehicles, pick-pocketing and stealing beach-goers‘
belongings. “I don‘t know exactly how
many kids there are but they live under the Humewood
bridge, and the groups are getting bigger and bigger,” Koll said. “They have to fend for themselves so they
become involved in criminal activities. Children as young as 11 already have
criminal cases against them.” Where being poor could become a criminal
offence Bronwen Dyke, Pambazuka News, 2007-03-15, Issue 295 www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/40305 [accessed 22 July 2011] Cape Town's recent
by-law, the 'City Streets, Public Places and Public Nuisance Act', not only
adds to the vulnerability of the homeless, especially street children, by
dispersing them to outlying locations around the city where there are no
support mechanicisms, but may also lead to the criminalisation of poverty and homelessness in South
Africa. Social issues on agenda for Inner City
Summit Official website of the City of www.joburg.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1321&Itemid=282 [accessed 22 July 2011] SPECIAL GROUPS - Certain groups
need recognition and research to provide an understanding of their size and
needs. Street children –
there doesn't appear to be a coherent strategy for dealing with street
children. There is also a growing problem of homeless children who are
HIV/Aids orphans - including foreign HIV/Aids orphans. Access to funding and
how to "legalise" the foreign children
needs to be discussed. 40 000 child prostitutes - Street children
vulnerable to sex trade A. Bolowana, 2004 www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=283&fArticleId=2198903 [Last
access date unavailable] STATISTICS - The gangs, he
said, gave the boys food and money in return for sexual favours. The source, who did not want to be named
for fear of intimidation, said: "They buy them food, they offer
protection in exchange for sexual favours." He said he believed that half of the boys
on the streets had been sexually molested, sodomised
and raped. "It is a very
secretive thing, not talked about," he said. Are 30,000 children really ‘trafficked’ in
South Africa every year? The claim exaggerates the problem Researched by Kate Wilkinson and Sintha Chiumia, Africa Check,
18 October 2013 [accessed 5 January 2017] As many as “30,000
kids trafficked in SA” read a headline in The Times in October 2013. A
similar article appeared in the Pretoria News, suggesting that “at least
30,000 children” are trafficked and prostituted annually in South Africa and
“50 per cent of them are under the age of 14”. The paper attributed the claim to Roxanne
Rawlins of Freedom Climb, “a project that works with trafficked people around
the globe”. Rawlins told Africa
Check via email that the figure of 30,000 originated from an International Organisation for Migration Report on “internal
trafficking” in South Africa which was published in 2008, a “US AIDS”
research report (she may have meant USAID) and a study by the National Centre
for Justice and Rule of Law, based at the University of Mississippi school of
law in the United States. However, the
International Organisation for Migration’s 2008
report “No Experience Necessary”: The Internal Trafficking of Persons in
South Africa does not estimate that there are 30,000 children currently being
trafficked for the purpose of prostitution in South Africa. Nor does it claim
that 50% are under the age of 14. Project raises R150 000 for homeless kids Independent Online (IOL) News, January 23
2007 www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/project-raises-r150-000-for-homeless-kids-1.312016 [accessed 23 July 2011] Each of the three
beneficiaries received a R50 000 contribution from the project. Learn
to Live, which provides education for abandoned children, will spend the
money on educational workshops and life skills training in the months to
come. The Homestead, with its mission to help homeless boys reconstruct
their lives, will invest in its family re-integration programme
while Ons Plek, a
shelter that takes in homeless girls, aims to improve its community
re-integration programme. Children of a Lesser God: Saranel Benjamin, Pambazuka News, 2007-01-17 -- Issue 286 www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/39203 [accessed 23 July 2011] Recently we met
Thabo, a little boy of 12. He has been on the street for just two weeks. Both
his parents died and his granny couldn’t afford to take care of him and his
two sisters so she sent them out of the house. He doesn’t know where his two
sisters are. They got separated on the streets. He looks like a fish out of
water on that sunny yet grotty part of the Durban
beachfront. He should be playing on the beach, frolicking in the water.
Instead he sits outside a supermarket not knowing how to go about asking
these grown-up strangers for food or money. His heart hasn’t hardened enough
to allow him to make that decision to steal as yet. Nor has he been
integrated into any of the other packs of street children where he would be
taught the skills of surviving on the street. Instead, Thabo’s broken heart
and hungry stomach forces him to stick his little, innocent hands into a garbage
bin and scrummage inside it with the hope that some grown-up stranger has
thrown away his or her lunch. One day I will help children like me The Scotsman, January 01, 2007 scotsman.vlex.co.uk/vid/one-day-i-will-help-children-like-80125626 [partially accessed 23 July 2011 - access
restricted] One Sunday morning
in 1958, 12-year-old Judy Westwater packed a small
case with her school books and uniform, a bar of soap and a comb and a few
pieces of stolen fruit. Abandoned by her violent and abusive father in a
residential hotel room in Johannesburg, and with no money to pay the rent
owed to the landlord, she headed for the only place she could think of: the
street. Finding a tiny shed nestled in the wall of an alleyway, she squeezed
herself in there with her few belongings. It was to be her home for the next
nine months. Book Review: Street Kid: One child's desperate fight for survival by Judy Westwater www.tonight.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3409249&fSectionId=375&fSetId=251 [Last access date unavailable] www.harpercollins.com.au/9780007279999/#sm.0000lxazomy2fcrrxpa13c6mj0fvj [accessed 5 January 2017] I am wary of trivialising her story by reducing it to a list of
horrors, but here's a short version as contained in the publicity blurb:
"Abducted by her psychotic spiritualist father as a child and kept like
a dog in his backyard, Judy Westwater suffered in a
Manchester orphanage run by nuns before being taken to South Africa, where
she ended up living wild on the streets of Hillbrow
and joining the circus. Determined that her
childhood experiences should in some way give meaning to her life, Judy has
in adulthood worked tirelessly to help homeless children in South Africa - in
the very places she herself suffered." The book ends when Westwater, aged 17, returned to the UK from South Africa,
to seek her mother and sisters. The reunion was anything but loving. It is
then noted that Westwater inherited a small legacy
and she used this to start projects with street children in South Africa,
Mexico and elsewhere. Children attacked sex charge vicar Ruth Keeling, www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/1014564.children_attacked_sex_charge_vicar/ [accessed 23 July 2011] An Oxfordshire clergyman accused of child abuse needed a
police escort from court after being attacked by R1m children‘s home officially launched at
Blanco, George Cathy Dippnall, At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly also be accessible [here] [accessed 23 July 2011] A new R1-million
initiative aimed at keeping destitute children and their parents off the
street was launched by George executive mayor Bazil
Petrus at an official sod turning in Blanco, George, yesterday. The main aim of
these meetings was finding ways of helping the growing population of street
children who have become a problem in the town. R2 million boost for smile-a-child project Tando Mfengwana,
Bush Radio 89.5fm Newsroom, 09 October 2006 bushradionews.blogspot.com/2006/10/r2-million-boost-for-smile-child.html [accessed 23 July 2011] Officials estimate
that for every child taken off the street, two more join the ranks of street
children. In Cape Town an estimated 40
percent of people living in the street are children, No bail for children suspected of murder South African Press Association SAPA,
October 6 2006 www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/no-bail-for-children-suspected-of-murder-1.296617 [accessed 23 July 2011] The Herald Online
reported that the incident raised concerns about increasing violence
displayed by street children in the area.
A police officer, Gerald Kota, involved in the rehabilitation of
street children told The Herald that street children are becoming entangled
with "drug lords" who use them to break into homes and even
encourage them to kill. Bills to protect kids linger in legal limbo Derrick Spies, Safety and Security
Reporter, The Herald, 06 October 2006 At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly also be accessible [here] [accessed 23 July 2011] They haunt city
alleys and pavements, hands outstretched, eyes pleading, as they beg for a
few cents and a bite to eat. They are
a sign of a society in crisis, but are seen as a social nuisance. They are children
– but whose responsibility are they?
Many people see street kids as a nuisance. They are regarded as
vandals, petty criminals and future prostitutes, and the police are expected
to take them off the streets. From street child to drumming master Sipokazi Maposa,
Independent Online (IOL) News, September 19 2006 www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/from-street-child-to-drumming-master-1.294288 [accessed 23 July 2011] Two years ago Ncedo Ngomba, 14, was homeless
on the streets of Today Ncedo not only has a roof over his head, but he has
turned his life around and is involved in a number of projects. From
education to sport and music, these projects have helped him develop. But
there is one project that is especially close to Ncedo's
heart: the Steelband Project Western Cape, which
teaches music to youngsters from poor communities. Street kids get their kicks from soccer Melanie Peters, Independent Online (IOL)
News, September 10 2006 www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/street-kids-get-their-kicks-from-soccer-1.293022 [accessed 23 July 2011] Sport plays an
important role in the rehabilitation of street children and in the
transformation of youth from disadvantaged communities. Cape Town's deputy mayor, Andrew Arnold,
told the Street Children's Soccer Tournament in Green Point on Saturday that
sport could keep children away from drugs, gangs and other social evils. About 32 teams of street children took part
in the event which was jointly organised by the
city, the Cape Town Partnership and the fledgling Western Cape Street
Children's Soccer League. Cops warn of new smash 'n grab tactics Fiona Gounden,
Independent Online (IOL) News, August 12 2006 www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/cops-warn-of-new-smash-n-grab-tactics-1.289094 [accessed 23 July 2011] "We have had
many cases where criminals have stuck chewing gum on car doors to alert their
accomplices. However, in most cases, street children are being used because
motorists don't really suspect them. While these kids are begging from
motorists, they look into cars and check for valuables. Poverty, drugs driving kids to sell sex on
street Derrick Spies, Safety and Security
Reporter, The Herald, August 10, 2006 povertynewsblog.blogspot.com/2006/08/south-africa-poverty-drugs-driving.html [accessed 21 July 2011] “There are a large
number of street children in the area who are turning to this as a way to fend
for themselves,” he said. “What is needed, is early intervention that will
take the children off the streets before they get drawn into that lifestyle.” Ebenezer Church
pastor Neville Goldman said the church was aware of the problem and was very concerned
about children who had run away from home and turned to crime and
prostitution to survive “There is
definitely a problem in the northern areas of children who go missing, and of
parents who cannot account for the whereabouts of their children. The Star, August 7, 2006 www.bishop-accountability.org/news2006/07_08/2006_08_07_Star_MotherCitys.htm [accessed 23 July 2011] The horrifying fact
is that on the streets of our cities, homeless boys are regularly sexually
abused by a growing number of paedophiles. The
street kids call these men "bunnies" - a term describing the mostly
middle-aged white men who pay them to have sex. According to
activists, street children are collected at night at designated pick-up
spots, yet the public remains largely unaware of what is taking place. Many NGOs
established to provide care and shelter for the city's street children turn a
blind eye and, according to some, the police say they have "bigger fish
to fry" than sexual predators preying on boys living on the margins of
society. Street children are hit hard by the big
freeze Thabiso Thakali,
streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2006/08/04/street-children-are-hit-hard-by-the-big-freeze/ [accessed 5 January 2017] As the freezing
temperatures and heavy rains continue to wreak havoc in some parts of the
country, homeless people and street children have been hit the hardest. Johannesburg
Emergency spokesman Malcolm Midgely said people living on the streets were at
risk of hypothermia as their body temperature continued to drop. “Hypothermia can be fatal because a
person’s blood circulation is severely affected.” Street Samaritan attacked by those he helps Fiona Gounden,
Independent Online (IOL) News, July 29 2006 www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/street-samaritan-attacked-by-those-he-helps-1.287270 [accessed 23 July 2011] A Khoza … was … cornered
by a group of about 10 boys aged from about 12 to 20 … They stoned me and
stabbed me. It was terrible as I have worked closely with young people and it
felt so sad to be beaten by them. Street children as young as 8 being lured
into prostitution by tourists Tabelo Timse,
The Herald Online News, 26 July 2006 www.oijj.org/news_ficha.php?home=SI&cod=34665&pags=0&idioma=es [accessed 21 July 2011] streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2006/07/25/street-children-lured-into-prostitution/ [accessed 5 January 2017] Street children,
some as young as eight years, are increasingly being lured into prostitution
by local and foreign tourists in the Knysna area. Police say they are
aware of the problem but poverty and a culture of silence are obstacles in
their attempts to prevent child prostitution. Knysna Child Welfare has
conducted several workshops on child trafficking in the Garden Route and
reports that a trend has emerged that street children are being used for
prostitution, drug smuggling and other crimes. Chairman Trix Marais said there was a “vicious cycle of silence.
Their parents and the community know about it but they keep quiet.” No short cuts for street actors Theresa Smith, www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-147783274.html [partially accessed 23 July 2011 - access
restricted] The children won't
all necessarily end up being actors (though they all acquitted themselves
rather well) but the Project isn't just about teaching the children to use
the stage. It's about learning to
navigate life, a skill they haven't necessarily picked up on the street. Four years ago Drive to help street kids beat winter blues Jessica Roberts, Independent Online (IOL)
News, June 29 2006 www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/drive-to-help-street-kids-beat-winter-blues-1.283533 [accessed 24 July 2011] Children from
shelters in Khayelitsha and I CAN is a campaign
to collect blankets and clothes for shelters for the homeless in Cape Town. Durban cleans up its act ahead of 2010
showdown South African Broadcasting Corporation SABC
News, May 23, 2006 westvilleonline01.blogspot.com/2006/05/durban-cleans-up-its-act-ahead-of-2010.php [accessed 15 October 2012] Street kid burns to death in basement South African Press Association SAPA, April
5 2006 www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/street-kid-burns-to-death-in-basement-1.272167 [accessed 24 July 2011] The child usually
slept on the pavements and might have sought refuge in the basement, said
Naidoo. "The basement was very
dark and a candle had to be used for light, and when it caught fire the child
could not escape," said Naidoo. Children not kept safe www.rekord.co.za/story.aspx?lan=Afr&sid=9989 streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2006/03/30/children-not-kept-safe/ [accessed 5 January 2017] Not only is the
social system failing “The street children
are the future of this country but as long as the community gives them money,
food or clothes, they will stay on the streets and develop into habitual
criminals when they grow up,” Information About Street Children - This report is taken from “A Civil Society
Forum for East and Southern Africa on Promoting and Protecting the Rights of
Street Children”, 11- 13 February 2002, At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 24 July 2011] The situation of
street children needs to be seen in the context of the legacy of entrenched
poverty, racial discrimination and high levels of societal tolerance for
violence. There are an estimated 250,000 street children with a rapid
increase in numbers due to increasing levels of adult unemployment, the drift
from rural to urban areas, the rapid growth of cities and the mushrooming peri-urban informal settlements and the breakdown of
African family support systems. SA youths tell of
street life BBC News, 16 April, 2002 --
featuring Skhumboso Dlamini
(15) and John Wilkenson (21) news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1910693.stm [accessed 24 July 2011] “I only did two
years at school. After my grandmother died, my brothers and sister, who were
unemployed, could no longer support me. I had to fend for myself in the city,
and that's when the streets of Bhavna Sookha
and Bongani Mthembu,
Independent Online (IOL) News, May 9 2005 www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/durban-s-street-children-are-out-of-sight-1.240647 [accessed 24 July 2011] A Thin Hope of
Escaping Poverty Text and Photos by Weng
Yu-ming, The Tzu Chi Quarterly, Fall 1999 --
Translated by Norman Yuan enquarterly.tzuchiculture.org.tw/tzquart/99fall/qf99-11.htm [accessed 11 Aug 2013] STREET CHILDREN - Unable to endure
his stepfather's beatings, twelve-year-old Roy fled from home a week ago and
is wandering on the streets of Thulani's parents both
passed away when he was ten. He went to live with his aunt, but she already
had four children of her own. Thulani left and
wandered on the streets for four years. Street life was very hard. He was
frequently attacked by passersby, but he never knew why. Most street
children in HOMELESS - Due to the sudden
death of his mother, Roland began wandering on the streets after he finished
elementary school. At fourteen, he was accepted by a shelter. He left it when
he was twenty and came to Child Sex
Industry Booms In LaborNews, 23 July 1996 www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/37a/029.html [accessed 21 July 2011] Film: Hillbrow Kids A co-production by Quinte
Film und ZDF / ARTE, 1999 www.hillbrowkids.de/e_film.htm [accessed 24 July 2011] Unlike their
parents, these children are not prepared to be part of the meek majority of
have-nots, are not prepared to be the born losers anymore. Poverty, alcoholism, broken families and
brutality drive them to the streets of cities like Organisations that help children Official website of the City of www.joburg.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1022&Itemid=75 [accessed 15 October 2012] There are many organisations that look after the needs of a range of
children: street children, abandoned babies, Aids orphans, HIV positive
children, and others. Some operate overnight shelters while others offer
residential care from birth to the age of 18. Some operate drop-in centres. Most engage in outreach programmes.
Some are Christian-based organisations, while
others are non-sectarian. Some, like Cotlands,
Streetwise and the Orlando Children's Home, are well-known; others are less
so. Described here are several such organisations. All employ some permanent staff but also
make use of volunteers. Othandweni - Hope For Street
Children Anna Yeadell,
Radio At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 24 July 2011] In the notorious
district of Hillbrow in New Hearts For African Angel Tours www.africanangeltours.com/index.htm [accessed 24 July 2011] [select: UPLIFTMENT
in the menu at the left] NEW HEARTS FOR
AFRICA
- Following her retirement several years ago, Beverley Peterson decided to
devote her life and her small $5,000 pension to help the children living on
the streets of Christopher Gumbi
And His Wife Provide Home And Center To Street Children Of www.diplomacy.8m.com/Children.html [accessed 5 January 2017] Christopher Gumbi and his wife provide home of sorts to 12 "street"
children and provide a center for up to 250 other children from around Diepkloof who visit the house daily for a meal or for
extra-mural activities. Helping The Street
Children Of From the July/August 1998 issue of Share
International www.shareintl.org/archives/social-justice/sj_helping.htm [accessed 24 July 2011] David Fortune, a
priest, child-care worker, and part-time actor, is reintegrating children and
youth living on the streets of Amos Trust www.amostrust.org/projects/index.php?pageNo=335&parent=49 [accessed 24 July 2011] www.amostrust.org/amos-street-child/partners/umthombo-south-africa/ [accessed 5 January 2017] A street-based
outreach team that develops relationships with street children, specifically
targeting those new to the streets. This work grew out of an earlier initiative,
the Durban Street Team. Rokpa Projects in ROKPA www.rokpauk.org/projectssouthafrica.html [accessed 24 July 2011] OVERVIEW - Every year
thousands of migrants arrive in Findings from
interviews on the background of street children in Pretoria, South Africa Johann Le Roux, Street Children in pangaea.org/street_children/africa/safrica2.htm [accessed 24 July 2011] The majority leave as
a result of socioeconomic and other factors within the family or immediate
environment. These family factors may include: abuse of alcohol and drugs;
financial problems and poverty; family violence and family breakup; poor
family relationships; parental unemployment and resulting stress; physical
and/or sexual abuse of children; parents absent from home as a result of
personal or financial reasons (e.g., a migrant labor system); collapse of
family structure; collapse of extended family; and emergence of vulnerable
nuclear families in urban areas (Le Roux, 1993). . [back] All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
Prof. Martin, "Street Children – |