Prevalence,
Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the first decade of the 21st Century gvnet.com/streetchildren/SouthAfrica.htm
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CAUTION: The following links and
accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation
in HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspect(s) of street life are of particular
interest to you. You might be
interested in exploring how children got there, how they survive, and how
some manage to leave the street.
Perhaps your paper could focus on how some street children abuse the
public and how they are abused by the public … and how they abuse each
other. Would you like to write about
market children? homeless children? Sexual and labor exploitation? begging? violence? addiction? hunger? neglect? etc. There is a lot to the subject of Street
Children. Scan other countries as well
as this one. Draw comparisons between
activity in adjacent countries and/or regions. Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. ***
FEATURED ARTICLES *** American musician
takes on the system Nina Harvey,
People's Post, 05/12/2007 At one time this article
had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 22 July
2011] "A lot of organisations aimed at helping these kids simply come in
and try and get them to conform without first discovering what their needs
are. But in order to really help them you need to build a foundation first
and not just go in and tell them what to do. "People seem
to either think they are delinquents, or they pity them, thinking they must
have come from an abusive background. Yes, many of their previous
circumstances may have been tough, but what people don't realise
is that the street life is addictive. These kids have the freedom to move
around as they please. Many of them will choose to stay where they are,
living by their own rules." And that, Brown
says, is the greatest problem. "The structure in this country is flawed.
Children here are making decisions for themselves they are too young to
make." Joburg lets its children
speak Emily Visser, Official Website of the City of www.joburg.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2002&Itemid=216 [accessed 22 July
2011] NON-PHYSICAL NEEDS - The message that
came out of the summit was clear - giving shelter to these children was not
enough. Many of the children in shelters seemed to receive adequate physical
care in the form of shelter, clothing, food and schooling. But their
emotional and vocational needs were not being catered for satisfactorily. Two breakaway
sessions took place: in the first the children spoke freely about their
experiences. All made "similar comments about their situations, and
identified [similar] difficulties and shared aspirations for future
improvements". Difficulties included being subjected to further abuse by
so-called caregivers, constantly facing danger, being bored because of a lack
of recreational facilities and peer pressure to use drugs and alcohol and
engage in prostitution. It also emerged
that they found the term "street children" stigmatised
them; they, in turn, saw themselves only as "ordinary human
beings". Despite the difficulties
they experienced, the majority indicated that they preferred living in
shelters to their own homes. "Many children acknowledged that the
shelters were safer than their homes and that they were receiving an
education," the report noted. Breaking ties with
the street Vivian Attwood,
Independent Online (IOL) News, June 9 2008 www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/breaking-ties-with-the-street-1.403726 [accessed 22 July
2011] Fundu Shezi (nicknamed "Bandlani")
has just turned 20. He has spent more than half his life on the streets of
Durban. His skull and face are badly scarred and there is an aura of great
sadness about him. "When I was a
baby my mother did not want me," he says. "She threw me into an open sewer at Umlazi. A social worker found me and took me to the
police. They put me in the Ocean View Children's Home. "Later I went to a foster mom, but I
was unhappy. She took the government grant, but was unkind about my mother.
She was looking after five children, but she drank a lot. I was with her from
six years old and when I was 10 I went on the streets. "As I grew up, I started to smoke
cigarettes, and then zol (dagga). I became addicted
to glue on the streets. When I came here I decided to leave those
things. "I have been told that I
have a brother and a sister who live in a place of safety. I would like to
meet them one day. I have a lot of anger towards my mother for throwing me
away. I dream about it all the time. How could she do that? I have so many
questions. The glue that
blinds Independent Online
(IOL) News, May 28 2008 www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/the-glue-that-blinds-1.402261 [accessed 22 July
2011] The young boy
slumps against his crutches on a City's heart is hardening,
say homeless Rafaella Delle
Donne, Independent Online (IOL) News, July 15 2007 www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/city-s-heart-is-hardening-say-homeless-1.362044 [accessed 22 July
2011] In the same week
that thousands of blankets were distributed to shelters and charity organisations as part of GoodHopeFM's
blanket drive, a homeless man claims his wife died of exposure after police
took her blanket. Under the new
by-law, begging and sleeping on the streets is illegal. Essentially, it criminalises poverty, which means homeless people are
resorting to hiding from police and organisations such
as the Sea Point Community Police Forum to avoid arrest. Jackson of Ons Plek said although street
people do their share of annoying people, "the by-law reflects a
hardening of hearts towards street people". For links to more published articles & reports, visit our
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