Children of the street
Children of the street
The event may be a bit unusual. But considering the figures on
hand, the significance of the four-day Week of Awareness Towards
Street Children, which includes films, displays and discussions,
should become immediately apparent.
According to the statistics made public by Jakarta's Deputy
Governor for Social Welfare, H. Museno, during the event which is
to close tomorrow at the Taman Ismail Marzuki art center on Jl.
Cikini, Jakarta has at least 30,000 street children and other
neglected youngsters who are in need of help. Among the
imperatives of their lives is giving them a better education.
While 30,000 may seem trivial in comparison to the 100 million
children who are estimated to work and live in urban streets
around the world, that figure is certain to swell to many times
that size when the whole country is taken into consideration.
Furthermore, unofficial estimates put the figure much higher
and given the size of Jakarta's population one may be forgiven
for assuming that 30,000 is a highly over-optimistic estimate.
Consider also the fact that by its own admission the Jakarta
city administration can provide only Rp 40,000 -- or the
equivalent of a very meager US$18.40 -- per child per year, for
only about 2,000 children. Again, the Jakarta municipality has no
policy concept for "street children", because these youngsters
are not considered "neglected children", a category which does
receive some assistance.
We know that a number of organizations, both in government and
outside, are doing their best to alleviate the situation. One of
them is the Foundation for the Welfare of Indonesian Children
(YKAI), a non-governmental organization whose chairperson is the
head of the organizing committee of the current festival at the
art center.
We do hope, though, that more can be done, and without delay,
to improve the situation. One does not have to see movies or read
newspaper stories about street children in such cities as
Medellin, in Colombia, to realize the potential dangers of
leaving the situation untended and allowing the numbers of street
children to grow unchecked.
It certainly is gratifying that a growing number of
individuals and organizations appear to be ready to extend a
helping hand. However, it seems to us that, proportionately
speaking, too much attention has been concentrated on helping the
street children themselves.
Surely the growing presence of street children in our midst is
the product of other social ills that can be remedied. It is for
this reason that we truly appreciate the efforts that are being
made by the organizers of the Week of Awareness Towards Street
Children.
Only by cultivating greater awareness of the plight of those
children among the public can we hope to eventually expand the
available resources and reach for the roots of the problem. By
helping to improve the public's knowledge of the problem, the
organizers of the awareness week at TIM have at least contributed
a share to the efforts.