Street Children
Every day in Manila, more than 75,000 children play, work, beg, and sleep on the streets of the city. Today, some will die.
The Sad Reality of Street Children in the Philippines
These are the children you find loitering in the streets of most third world countries,
often knocking on windshields for coins.
Dressed in rags torn to shreds and with faces covered in dirt and soot, they walk the
winding pathways of asphalt. They spend their days baking under the sun?s scorching
rays or drudge in the endless assault of rain and wind, their bare feet being tortured
by an unforgiving environment. As their hungry stomachs rumble, they sleep away their
nights, blanketed with dreams of wealth and comfort while being watched by a seemingly
desolate moon. While some of them knock on peoples? cars, hunting for alms amongst
Manila?s busy intersections, others try to earn their daily bread selling everything
from sampaguita (garlands of flowers that act as a natural air freshener for cars) to
cigarettes. There are even those who prefer the meager, and sometimes shameful, incomes
procured from illegal trades such as prostitution and drug trafficking. And there are
those who turn to crime or the empty lures of drug addiction.
For the middle to upper classes, these children are usually viewed with both ends of
the spectrum in mind. For some, they are youngsters who deserve the help and love
that others can render for them, youngsters who need equal opportunities to work
for a better future. But for others, they can be mere street urchins, human trash
who should be locked up and kept out of sight or abused to bring in more money for
already wealthy employers.
A number of ways have been tried, both by the government and the private sector, to
help solve the problem of the growing number of street children. Free public education,
outreach programs, and community service centers have all done their part to help
alleviate the suffering that so many youngsters undergo. They have done what they
can to give these children hope for a brighter tomorrow.
But the simple truth remains. There are still so many who roam the streets like animals
living in an urban jungle. A person has to experience what it is like to be one of them.
A person must enter their world and interact with them. It doesn?t need to be a long
interaction. A brief sequence of moments will do.
A lot has also been written about how to help these children. But more than material
wealth lies the beauty of the human person. To show a child on the street that they
have real value, giving them a chance for a future can make a significant difference!
A penny would nourish his body. A touch and a smile would nourish his soul. Philippine
Children need love and compassion will you partner with us to help them.
- Street children are young, they spend a considerable time living and/or working on the streets.
- The working street child works from 6 to 16 hours, often in a combination of ?occupations?.
- Street children usually come from large families, with six to ten children per family.
- Street children are generally malnourished and anemic, many of them physically stunted.
- Street children suffer psychologically from undue family pressures, abuses and neglect at home. Very often, they develop low self-esteem.
- Street children are prone to street fights and bullying from bigger youth, harassment from policemen, suspicion and arrest for petty crimes, abuse and torture from misguided authorities.
- Street children usually come from broken families
- There are more boys than girls. Female children are disadvantaged because of their sex; they do more housework and are prone to sexual abuses.
- Parents are preoccupied with earning a living, oftentimes engaged in irregular low-paying jobs as construction workers, vendors, and scavengers.