Street Children: No space or time for childhood

[LalaMimi]

By Karima Rhanem

Thousands of children are left on the streets to deal with their sorrows and harsh living conditions. Shattered dreams, abuse of all kinds and lack of affection are the only reality they know. The Morocco Times highlights the important factors that lead these children to be on the street

On the busy streets of Casablanca, we met 15 year-old Abdellah, a street child with no family, hanging around Boulevard Mohammed V, begging. He looked desperate and hungry. “Give me a dirham, I am very hungry, I haven't eaten since yesterday”. This is nothing unusual; there are thousands of street children living on the streets of Casablanca alone. You come across them everyday but your immediate reaction is to look away. You cannot explain your attitude; somehow, they make you feel uncomfortable, and guilty. You hurry away to avoid them. You don't stop to ask yourself where they sleep, how they manage to keep themselves warm, or when they had their last meal.





Street children playing next to the trash can


Childhood should be the best period of one's life. However, it's not always the case for some kids. Thousands of children are left on the streets to deal with their sorrows and harsh living conditions. Shattered dreams, abuse of all kinds and lack of affection are the only reality they know. These children are often from divorced parents. They have suffered from extreme poverty and have experienced domestic violence and abuse. They feel abandoned and have lost all trust in adults. Moreover, they are seen merely as a nuisance or a menace, probably thieves and criminals. The general public's treatment of them is to be rude and indifferent; their mistrust deepens.



According to “Bayti” (“My Home”), a Moroccan NGO specialized in helping children in difficult situations, the age of these street children ranges from 7 to 18.

There are multiple, interrelated factors that lead to children being on the streets. Some are direct such as domestic violence and abuse. However, most of the others are indirect and these include poverty and urbanization.
For centuries, cities everywhere have held a magnetic attraction for rural inhabitants (The streets are paved with gold). Extreme poverty in rural areas makes this attraction irresistible, especially to children who see no hope and no future. Sadly, for the vast majority, the dream turns out to be a mirage. The harsh reality is that if you are poor and jobless in the city, you are nothing. The combination of being young, poor and unemployed leads to another cycle of violence and abuse to which can be added the further evil of exploitation. It is little wonder that children in such circumstances choose the street life as a refuge. Here they have one thing: a freedom of sorts.







A homeless child sleeping in the street

At the end of the day, some, like Abdellah, do go home, but others sleep on the streets or at railway stations. At night, around the port of Casablanca, groups of young boys sleep on cartons or in doorways.
Drugs and alcohol abuse is a serious problem. The younger children mostly sniff glue (“Silisioun” in Moroccan dialect), but the teenagers drink alcohol and smoke “kif”. Sniffing solvents from a tissue causes hallucinations and offers temporary relief from hunger, sadness and loneliness. These children have a constant need to escape from extreme poverty and hunger, and doing it through drugs leads some to insanity by the time they are in their early 20's.




Rachid, a 13 year old boy joined Abdellah in conversation: “I take drugs to forget about my situation and to prevent myself from committing a crime. I've been caught by the police many times for hanging around here. My mom is a dirty prostitute. So, I escaped from home not to see men coming and going out of the house”.
We asked Rachid about other children. So, he took us to a place next to the Casablanca port, where there were too many of them. Some of them were begging, others selling plastic bags or working as shoe-shine boys, while others are simply sitting in the recesses of the buildings and sniffing glue.



For most of these children, the future is dark and unpromising. All that matters to them is day-to-day survival, something to eat, something to wear, and somewhere to sleep. There is no space or time for childhood. Every one of them has a different story. We had to give them money before they would even start listening to us. It was difficult to gain their trust; they lie automatically, and told us 4 or 5 stories before beginning to tell the truth.




Driss, another young 12 year old shoe-shine boy near the Casablanca port railway station, said that his mother married another man after her second divorce. His step-father used to beat him a lot, made him drop out of school, and forced him to work in order to bring him money. Desperate, Driss decided to escape from home: “I prefer working for myself than bringing him money.” My dream was to finish my studies and become a doctor,” he added with a miserable face.








Each one of these children imagines how normal childhood could be. Their dreams are shattered by the harsh reality of their lives. We heard dozens of stories from other children. That reminded us of Nabil Ayouch's movie “Ali Zaoua”. The film tells the story of four street boys who have decided to go it alone without their families. This moving film graphically portrays the terrible and harsh reality of abandoned children and makes us painfully aware that there are thousands of Ali Zaouas in our country.




Whatever the reasons how and why they come to be in the street, once they are there, these children need help and protection to prevent them from further abuse, crime and the increasing risk of HIV, now a serious problem among street kids. Street culture often encourages and reinforces risky behaviours. Street children reported that being forced to have sexual intercourse was one of the greatest problems they were facing in living on the streets. Many street children seek out the physical protection of an older boy for survival, but that kind of partnership can be dangerous. “Commercial sex work had become increasingly common among children aged 14 to 16, putting them at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS,” reveals a recent ILO report.




There are various programs designed to address the street children phenomenon in Morocco. Most of these programs have been set up and are run by voluntary and non-governmental organizations such as “Darna” in Tangier and “Bayti” in Casablanca (both express the notion of “My Home”, a shelter for abandoned children). Most of these organizations focus on remedial activities, such as the provision of crisis centres, education, job training, health care, and counselling. However, the ultimate goal is to reintegrate the children with their families wherever possible. Bayti, for example, targets children in difficult circumstances: street children, working children, abandoned children, juvenile delinquent and sexually exploited children. A multidisciplinary team including educators, social workers, doctors, psychologists, teachers, artists, and students collaborates with the organization.






In addition to the work being done by NGOs, the Moroccan ministry in charge of women's affairs, protection of the family and children, and the integration of the handicapped has also done much research into the phenomenon of street children. The ministry has also:

• Formed specialist groups in education to work with these children
• Encouraged social and health protection; fought against illiteracy
• Encouraged families, particularly those who live in rural areas, to send their children to school, and they welcomed those who have failed in their studies
• Provided care centres for street children in different parts of Morocco
• Encouraged associations working in the field to increase their efforts to assist children in difficult situations.





International organizations such as UNICEF and ILO are constantly involved in preventive activities. They provide information and data as well as offering educational and vocational training.

However, in spite of all the efforts and programs aimed at addressing the phenomenon of street children, their needs are not fully met and their numbers are steadily increasing. The problems encountered with these programs in Morocco do not stem from a lack of initiative, but rather a lack of sufficient resources, including funding and trained staff. There is also a lack of good planning, a lack of organization and no clear government policies. Experts in the field said that no program can succeed unless it is based on a scientific assessment of the situation of the children, and unless consideration is given to their basic needs. Therefore, the government should:

• Form more professional teams to carry out research into the subject
• Provide more financial support for the NGOs working in this field.

NGO's, on the other hand, should also increase awareness through publicity campaigns. People need to be made aware of the severe consequences of the phenomenon of street children in our society, and all Moroccan families should be made conscious of the danger of neglecting or abandoning their children.

[LalaMimi]

Omar Saadou of “Bayti”:
“A well planned strategy is needed to reintegrate street children in Morocco”

The phenomenon of street children in Morocco is becoming critical. NGOs are trying hard to find solutions to the problem. Omar Saadou of the “Bayti” Association, an NGO with a long experience in the field, describes the circumstances that lead these children to be on the street.






Omar Saadou of the “Bayti” Association

As the person responsible for the street programme in Bayti, could you describe to us the situation of street children in Morocco?


The phenomenon of street children has become more common in Morocco. There are thousands if not millions of street children around the country. Personally, I don't like the idea of examining the phenomenon in terms of quantity. By doing that, we are only trying to reduce the number of these street children. What we should do instead, is to admit that this phenomenon exists in our society, at the same time trying to find possible ways to deal with it. I can give you an imaginary number of these children, but we shouldn't look at the problem in terms of numbers.



Who are the street children?



The general definition of street children is: “Children under the age of 18 years who spend most of their time on the streets. Street children is a term often used to describe both “market children” (children who work in the streets and markets of cities, selling or begging, and live with their families), and “homeless children” (children who live and sleep in the streets, lacking any contact with their families.



What are the main reasons why these children are on the streets?



While some children are lured by the promise of excitement and freedom, the majority are pushed onto the street by desperation and a realization that they have nowhere to go. Most children go onto the street to look for a better way of life, to earn more money and to support their families. Some of them have dropped out of school, while others didn't even have the chance to go to school. Others go onto the street because they have no shelter, or to escape from family difficulties.
The major problems that lead them onto the street are the following:
* Poor, uneducated, and large families
* Parents' lack of knowledge and skills
* Lack of responsibility on the part of the parents and the family
* Physical abuse
* Rebellious behaviour and attitude of the children
* Unfair distribution of resources and opportunities in the community, such as lack of adequate employment opportunities, problems in working conditions
* Inadequate and poor housing facilities (many of them live in shantytowns)
* Political and economic conditions
* Poor law enforcement
* Inflexible educational system
These causes are interrelated, and it is very difficult to talk about one and ignore the others. I will say again that the main problem is that we don't admit the existence of this phenomenon in Morocco. We should make a greater effort to face it, and work on a strategy to achieve the goals mentioned before and particularly to reintegrate these children into society.




How do these children earn their money for their daily survival and where do they gather?



They can earn money through begging, car washing, shoe shining, vending, drug trafficking, or sex work. Normally, these children choose their own places. They usually hang around next to railway stations and ports, and in urban woods. However, you can find them everywhere.



It is clear that these children have a heavy burden. What are the major threats they face?



These children lack basic resources to sustain a healthy living. They usually have no money to buy decent clothes or food. They rarely have access to the facilities they need for their daily hygiene and sanitation, such as toilets and a clean, safe water supply. They also lack adequate nutrition. Beside this, the street, as you know, is an unprotected environment, and street children are frequently exploited. They may face physical injury or death from violence. This violence might come from gangs, drug dealers, commercial sex workers, or even from the police. What is very dangerous and more serious is that they are vulnerable to sexual abuse. Common sexual and reproductive health problems include sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS.
That is why we are working with AIDS control associations to make these children aware of such diseases.


As far as HIV/AIDS is concerned, do these children understand its real meaning?



These children are not usually aware of the real meaning of AIDS. Some think it is a city; others think it is an object. Some have heard about it, but they don't care, because their top priorities are food, clothes, and shelter. We have worked closely with the Association Marocaine des Jeunes Contre le Sida (AMJCS) in one of their programmes designed for street children. We have jointly looked for new communication methods to get our messages over to this target group. We use educational activities to help them understand the real danger that surrounds them, and make then aware of all kinds of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD). However, to do that, we have first to gain their trust and confidence. Only then can we communicate with them.






What are the implications of the street life on their psychological and mental health?





Street life may have a lasting impact on their well-being. They lack parental affection. They are always under stress, leading a transitory lifestyle. Street children move frequently from place to place. Sometimes, they do it by choice. However, they are more often forced to move to hide from the police, gangs, or drug dealers. This type of lifestyle leads to problems of social isolation and loneliness, and difficulties in developing emotional attachments. As I mentioned earlier, the stress they face makes them vulnerable to emotional problems, psychiatric disorder, and learning difficulties. Another big problem they face is the use of drugs, often to escape reality. This may lead them to overdose, or increase their chance of accidents, violence, and unprotected sex and so on. Moreover, the excessive use of drugs may lead to brain damage over time.



How do you integrate these children, and is there a real reintegration?




We have to speak clearly here, and admit that it is very difficult to talk about the reintegration of these children. The most crucial question we should ask is where and how? Are we going to make them go back to the same circumstances, and eventually to the same family? Maybe it is better to reintegrate them with themselves and work to enhance their self-confidence and self-esteem, and try to change their perception of life and view of the world. That is why I mentioned that we need a well planned strategy in order to talk about reintegration.




What is the future of this phenomenon in Morocco?



To be honest, with such little effective coordination between those who are responsible in both government and non-government organizations, things will not change for the better. Because of the complexity of the phenomenon, prospects for improvement are doubtful and not encouraging.