Number of street kids surges because of crisis

JAKARTA (JP): The number of street children has substantially increased over the last couple of months as a direct impact of the prolonged economic crisis, an official said yesterday.

Ami Poerwanto, head of the city office of the Ministry of Social Services, said they could be easily spotted as newspaper sellers and buskers at busy road intersections or as shoe polishers at public facilities and as laborers at markets.

Ami said her office had collected data from 25 shelters in the capital showing that the number of regulars at the shelters had increased by 15 percent to 3,963 people at present from about 2,378 late last year.

"But the 15 percent increase accounts mainly for the number of street children registered at the 25 shelters during their visits there," she told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

The shelters, two of which are managed jointly with the United Nations Development Program, four with various local non- governmental organizations and the remaining 19 are run independently, function as places where street children visit and may get assistance from social workers and volunteers.

The children are allowed to sleep at the shelters, use educational and recreational facilities and often obtain clean clothes and necessary medical help, Ami said, adding that many of the children suffered respiratory problems and skin diseases.

The shelters do not provide prepared meals, but do provide rice and noodles that the children can cook if they have been unable to get any money at all, she said.

Ami said it was likely that the real number of children who live and earn a living on the street was far higher than 3,963. However, she could not give an estimated number.

Street children, she said, were not necessarily orphans. In fact, most of them have families who either live here or in other cities, she added.

"Many of the youths choose to live or work on the streets. Some do so because of financial problems and some have no major reason at all," she said.

She said the term "street children" was not strictly used in reference to those who actually live and sleep on the street, but merely to define youths who still had families but who earn a living on the street or public places.

"In Tanjung Priok, there are some children who use sponges to absorb leftover cooking oil or kerosene at traditional markets every day, store it in plastic bottles and give it to their mothers at home. These are also street children," she said.

Ami said it was very difficult to solve the problem of street children, especially during such a time of hardship.

She said the minimum goal in solving the problem was to get children to at least reduce the time they spend on the street.

"We even feel very, very happy if they want to take a bath," she said.

More parents have allegedly coerced their children into skipping school to earn money on the street, she said.

"Many of the parents do not care about sending their children to school. They may not object if their children stay at shelters, but some have certainly opposed our plan to send their children back to school," she said.

Some parents say they need the children to keep on working to contribute to the families' finances, she said.

"Even persuading the children themselves is tough. Those who became street children of their own accord are the most difficult be persuade because they care about getting money more than they care about having a better life away from the street," she said. (cst)