Street kids prone to sodomy: Carers

Street kids prone to sodomy: Carers

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)