Street kids prone to sodomy

JAKARTA (JP): Social workers made a fresh call on the community to pay greater attention toward and save street children from the risks of sexual abuse and, in consequence, from sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS.

Brother Stani Suhud, who leads a private foundation to help street children, said yesterday that many street children continue to be the victims of pedophiles around them.

"Almost all of the children I have cared for have been sexually molested," he was quoted by Antara as saying. "From the 100 street kids that we have helped, almost all have admitted to having been sodomized either by other street children or some of their elders."

Officials at the Ministry of Social Services have identified sexual molestation as one of the most difficult problems to be dealt with concerning street children.

Stani Suhud said his Amelia Foundation provides a half-way house for street children, with a capacity of about 50. The activities of the foundation are mainly concentrated in the Central and North Jakarta areas.

Jakartan parents have for the past few weeks been gripped with fear after newspapers reported the discovery of the bodies of eight children, badly mutilated and sodomized.

Stani Suhud maintained that the most important mission in helping street kids is to change their attitude.

"The most difficult thing to teach them is honesty; to change their habit of wanting to live in comfort without working. They are easily influenced into committing unlawful things," he said.

Stani's foundation sends some of its children to people who seriously want to care for them or teach them a particular vocation. Nevertheless, Stani admitted that the children are easily tempted by others and often choose to return to the free street life.

The Director General for Social Welfare of the Ministry of Social Services, Ign. Setyoko, also noted the difficulty in helping street children, since it ultimately means having to change the children's attitudes and perspectives of life.

The ministry categorizes the children as "problem children".

However, the ministry only has two half-way houses -- each with a capacity for 60 children -- to receive "problem" children or teenagers, Setyoko explained.

Dr. Palupi Wijayanthi of the Asia-Pacific Forum for Child Welfare described street children as being just one step away from acquiring the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) which leads to Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

"Many of them are already infected with sexually transmitted diseases," Palupi remarked.

"When a young male child is sodomized, there's a great possibility that he will be infected with HIV," the doctor explained.

Minister of Social Services Inten Suweno said during a seminar yesterday that the government is currently preparing an integrated program to deal with the problem of street children. (mds)