Street urchins display expressions, skill at TIM

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)