Streets Ahead Children’s Centre was set up to meet the needs of street-living children who couldn’t, or wouldn’t, fit into any programme available to them. Whilst in Kigali Butare, and other large urban centres in Rwanda, the problem is acknowledged and some child centred programmes are in place, the children in the smaller towns are consistently overlooked, and have no support or hope of a future.
Government Policy in Rwanda is to periodically round up street children, using soldiers and batons to drive them onto trucks before locking them away in large governmental centres, where there is little supervision or personal care, where they languish until they find a means to escape. After each government round up, the streets are clear for two or three days. Then the children seep back, more hurt and let down than before.
SACCA believes that Street Children are no different from other children and have the potential to be successful and good. The children with whom SACCA works have had a very difficult life, are used to being marginalized and not listened to, and are often emotionally damaged. However, given the chance, they want to be part of society and to have some stake in the future.
Listening to the children’s needs and problems is the first step to helping them. Every part of the project has been designed with the children, consulting with them and agreeing a best way forward. In this way, very few children have dropped out of the project.
Given time and care, children can learn to trust and see hope in the future. The majority of street children think only of the present. They are convinced that their lives are worth nothing and that they will die soon. They have no space for any thought of the future. This attitude is the first thing that we need to change - through repeated contact, formal and informal conversations, but most of all through playing and spending time with the children. We need to persuade them that their lives are worth something, if only because we care about them. From here, we then work to build their self-esteem.
Children need a secure family unit. All street children lack this support in their lives. This is the first thing we try to give them. We have a high staff to child ratio, in most centres 1 to 5. This means that there are always people on hand to listen to the children, to play with them, to help them when they are in trouble, and to intervene to help them change their behaviour. All staff fulfil a variety of roles without any sense of hierarchy. Managers, teachers and child supervisors all work together to give the children the support that they have lacked on the street. As children feel secure and part of a family again, they can start to relax and allow themselves to develop, emotionally, physically and intellectually.
SACCA help children to help themselves. Although initially many children cannot see the point in trying to change their lives, as time passes, they want to be part of society and to feel worthwhile. The children try to leave their bad behaviour on the street – stealing, fighting, taking drugs, and in turn we give them the means to do so – somewhere to stay, someone to whom they can turn, support. The children grow to care for their own environment and “earn” their daily meals, through learning, digging and participation in the project.
We help any child on the street who needs the help. We do not turn anyone away but look for the most appropriate way that each case can be helped. On the other hand, we firmly believe that the best place for any child is within the family. Where children who have recently come onto the street ask to join the project, we first visit their homes. If the home can provide a safe and supportive environment for the child, and the neighbouring community confirm that the home is secure, we encourage the children to stay at home. We also encourage strong family contact and repeated visits – something that children are more willing to do as their self-esteem increases.
SACCA work within the communities that the children have chosen. Often these will be near their homes. Although this may sound simple, programmes often take children to the other side of the country, not least because a new environment helps to break behaviour patterns. Working within the children’s community is difficult, as they are used to certain behaviour in these places. However, it does enable children to keep close links with friends and family, something SACCA believes is very important for children who are so isolated. Moreover, the children are part of society, not the animals that they are often taken to be. SACCA works with committees and the community to promote awareness of the plight of street children and encourage their better treatment.
However, we know that children change slowly. It takes a long time to overcome years of isolation. Patience and consistency, along with a framework of agreed behaviour, allow boys to change at their own pace, in the knowledge that they will always be treated with fairness and their problems listened to.
We are the last port of call for many children. Having left their families and been ostracized by the community, if we don’t help them, there is little hope for their future. For the children with whom we work, we are truly the last hope. Our policy is to try every avenue possible. Nobody else is likely to help them if they leave us.
