Street urchins display expressions, skill at TIM
JAKARTA (JP): Hundreds of street children from across the city are now joining a series of programs in a "Week of Awareness Towards Street Children" being held at the Taman Ismail Marzuki Arts Center.
The four-day festival, which was opened by Deputy Governor for Social Welfare H. Museno, features shoeshine and drawing contests as well as a handicraft exhibition. The event will last until Sunday.
"They are also free to do their usual work, such as shining shoes," said organizer Rama Chandra of project RESCUE-Indonesia, yesterday. He added that 250 children, as well as a number of adult street-workers, will participate in the event.
The child participants are those who already have frequent contact with a number of non-governmental organizations working for the welfare of street children, including the Foundation for the Welfare of Indonesian Children (YKAI).
YKAI's chairperson Lily Rilantono, who is also the chairperson of the festival organizing committee, said that films on street children here and in other countries were are also shown at the main gallery of the arts center.
Museno said that more than 50,000 children in the city, 30,000 of them street and neglected children, need financial aid to receive an education and a decent life.
"We have repeatedly called on the public to help raise the standard of living of these children...we can only provide Rp 40,000 (US$18.39) in assistance per child annually, for only 2,000 children," Museno said.
However, a caretaker of a neighborhood group working for the welfare of poor families and street children said the number of street children is estimated to be much higher than the official figure released by the city administration.
"In the 95 hectares area of Manggarai, South Jakarta, alone there are 75 street children that we know of," said Abdillah of the Proyek Gema Mandiri.
A YKAI employee said earlier that their research team found 100 children in the few first days of observation around the Jatinegara market, railway station and Kampung Melayu bus terminal, East Jakarta.
Policy
Museno stressed that in helping such children, the municipal administration always adhere to the existing rules.
"We have rounded up and arrested street children for their own good, not for ill-will," Museno said.
In a related development researcher Arum Kusumanegara of the YKAI pointed out the absence of specific policies for street children for the city administration, a statement confirmed by the City Office for Social Welfare.
The office's deputy head, Abdulrahman Gani Hatta, said that the city administration does not have a policy for street children as they are not in the category of "neglected children."
Social worker Abdillah pointed out that although a street child can earn Rp 5,000 ($2.30) a day, this is enough only for meals "Some of them spend the money to help their parents or for leisure activities, such as gambling and playing computer games at amusement centers," Abdillah said.
The Jakarta mission director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Charles Wedn, told the seminar there are around 100 million children across the world who work and live in urban streets.
"The work of street children is often risky," Wedn said.(anr)