When living on the streets: Hope springs eternal...

Definition of street children

Children of the Street - Homeless Street Children

Those who for the majority of the time sleep on the street and retain limited or no contact with the family of origin. (treat the street as their place of shelter and livelihood, having occasional or no contact with their families.)

Children on the Street - Family-based street children (Regular contact with their families)

Children who work (both wage labour and marginal activities) on the street, who for the majority of time sleep in a home environment and who maintain strong and significant contact with the family of origin.

Children at risk of engagement in street life

Such as the younger siblings of street living and street working children, or more broadly, urban children in poverty who may be deemed at risk of moving to the street.

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Many street children are given a new lease of life under a special project conducted by the Day Shelter for Street Children (Borella). It is managed by Sarvodaya Suwasetha and sponsored by Hope for Children, the British charity, working in Sri Lanka.

The goal of the street children project is to rehabilitate street families and their children and to bring them into mainstream society, while inspiring the mothers to bring up their children as socially acceptable citizens.

The main objective is to provide basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter, education, vocational training, recreation, good health and sanitary conditions, income generation, job opportunities and counselling.

The Day shelter for Street Children Borella is a multi-purpose service delivery centre.

The main activities are, day care centre/pre-school, catch- up education, admission for formal school, help with school studies, cultural activities, music, dancing, Little Friends Pack, outreach programme-interaction with the Overseas School of Colombo, skills development, health/medical surveillance, micro enterprises, housing, job placement, awareness programmes - financial management, drug abuse, HIV/AIDS etc.

The project is designed to offer a way out to the hundreds of helpless victims of circumstances and to give them a fair chance to escape permanently from their current state of dependency and shape their own future.

How readers can help: If you have story books suitable for children, crayons, coloured paper, exercise books, pens, pencils etc. you can donate them to the Day Shelter by handing them over to the nearest Sarvodaya Centre, specifying they are for street children.

We feature below views, aspirations and achievements of a few street children who can hope for a brighter future, now that they have been given a new life.

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Children's voices...

"My father is an alcoholic. He and my mother both earn money by selling naptheline balls. Even though I am eight years old and my brother is just six years old, we also help to sell the naptheline balls, sometimes till late in the night. If we don't ,we get scolded and hammered by our father.

My mother encourages us to study and I attend school. I have many other brothers and sisters too and some are doing jobs now. I don't get to attend classes when I work on the streets. I like to study and become a school principal or join the police force."

Tharindu

"I have been coming to the Centre from pre-school age, but now I attend school. We used to live on the streets, however, we have our own home now in Borella.

I live with my parents, and sisters. I learn many things at school and at the Centre. My favourite subject at school is Sinhala. My ambition is to join the army when I grow up. The streets are not a place for a child to grow up in."

Kamal

"Life on the streets was miserable, but now I have the opportunity to attend school and also learn many things at the Sarvodaya Centre. I am only 13 years old, I have a sister and two brothers, one of whom is dumb. My parents are alive. My father is an alcoholic and there are fights between my parents all the time. When we try to save my mother from being hit, father hits all of us as well.

I enjoy being at the Sarvodaya where I learn many things that will help me in the future. I like to become a dancing teacher one day, so I do dancing as an extra-curricular activity at the Centre. My friends who know my situation help me a lot."

Vimala

"The life I spent on the road was terrible. My mother, elder sister and I sold things like naptheline balls to earn some money to survive. My sister was nearly abused by a man once. Now that we have been given a new lease of life, things have changed.

I attend school, but I hardly have time to do my studies. I attend the classes at the Sarvodaya Centre too and learn many things.I want to be a dancing teacher someday."

W. Ramani

"My parents are living, but as my father was a drug addict and my mother re-married, there were many problems, especially when we lived on the streets, selling naptheline balls. Now that we have a place to live in Kelaniya, and my mother runs a fruit stall with my step-father, life is somewhat better.

But, we don't get enough money to survive. Even though I like to study, I don't have time to do so with all the work that I have to do at home. I attend school and am 14 years old, I also attend classes at the Centre. My favourite subjects are English, Sinhala and Music. I want to be a dancing teacher when I grow up."

Namalee

(Names have been changed).

Interviews by Janani