Abused kids flee to life on streets

Abused kids flee to life on streets

Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It's impossible not to notice the small scar on Mamo's shaved
head as he sits under the Senen flyover in Central Jakarta,
taking a rest from hustling for money as a busker in the dusty,
traffic-clogged area.

It's his permanent reminder of why he left home. It was
inflicted when his mother beat him with a broom.

"I was beaten by my mother after I stole some of my father's
money. That was the worst, so I ran away," said the moon-faced
eight-year-old, whose real name is Sumarno, and comes from a poor
farming family in Karawang, West Java.

"I won't return home," he said. "I like it here with my
friends."

Mamo, among his friends Nandi and Pendek, who are both 10
years old, still has something to be proud of, for he is the only
one of the three to have attended school.

While he speaks of his past with no hint of sadness or
sentimentality, counselors and rights activists warn that
Sumarno, and many other children like him, will bear deep
emotional scars from physical and emotional abuse in the home.

Other family relatives and neighbors will turn a blind eye or
consider that there is nothing wrong, that it is the parents'
right to discipline their child.

Often, the streets are the only refuge for these young victims
of domestic violence. They are forced to live by their wits,
earning what they can by busking, begging and sometimes even
selling themselves, becoming prey to new forms of abuse and
exploitation.

Inevitably, they grow into reckless, rebellious adults, for
whom family and conventional values have no meaning.

Dark-skinned Pendek, so called because of his short height, is
from Lampung, but he came to Jakarta three years ago with his
elder brother. In the time since, Pendek's brother was killed
when he fell off a train in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta.

He fled a tough life of working on a plantation.

"We were forced to work in an oil palm plantation. It was real
hard work -- day and night -- and we couldn't stand it, so we ran
off," he said, recalling that work began before dawn, and daily
meals consisted of dull rice and greens.

"We lived in a village. My father was sick, he couldn't work.
My elder brother and my younger sister all went off to the
plantation."

Nandi spoke of how, when his father passed away, his mother
remarried and he became neglected.

"My mother was too busy with her new babies. I was often
scolded. She was so fussy, always making a big deal out of
everything I did."

Data from the National Commission for Child Protection
(Komnas-PA) shows that the number of street kids is constantly
increasing. This is especially true during times of crisis, when
many stressed parents take their frustrations out on their
children.

According to the Komnas data, in the year 2000 there were some
40,000 street kids in 12 provincial capitals; that number more
than doubled in the following year to 85,000.

Of course, these are only official statistics, and may not
reflect the true number.

"We believe the real number is much higher because many areas
were not included," the commission's executive director, Arist
Merdeka Sirait, said.

He added that there were many non-governmental groups (NGOs)
working with the kids, but few used the correct approaches in
handling the children, while the government has yet to formulate
"real" actions to address the issues.

"Many NGOs are working on project-based programs, so when the
term is passed, it's over and they turn to other programs. Some
of the older NGOs use the community-based approach in which they
involve families and also the neighbors," he told The Jakarta
Post recently.

Yet street kids, the most visible example of children who have
suffered abuse, are only part of the problem, which involves
dysfunctional families and the poverty that leads to
psychological stress.

"The parents, too, have to be counseled for change," he said.

He gave an example of a pilot project on a shelter for street
kids funded by an international development program a few years
ago. It fell through because there were no sustainable activities
or clearly defined objectives.

"Shelters are only to help to reintroduce the children to home
and family values -- because the two things are missing in their
lives. Children can't just stay without any good reasons keeping
them there," he said.

While the children were at the shelter, activists should
approach the families, and prepare them to receive the returning
children, he said.

It is not an easy job -- either for the government or for the
NGOs -- particularly when it comes to dealing with families who
believe that the outsiders are interfering in their personal
affairs.

Nevertheless, "something has to be done," said Arist.