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SGAC CAMEROON CHAPTER [ Profil ] |
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Re : [GYCA-CentralAfrica] Street Children and HIV/AIDS: A Hidden Time Bomb
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Aug 26th, 2009 - 14:11:32 |
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Great so how can SGAC help for we are ready to ?
In solidarity,
Divine
Ntiokam Divine
Founding President SGAC
P.O.Box 8860
Yaounde,Cameroon
Tel:(+237)75-49-19-33
(+237)99-05-84-74
Email:sgaccameroon (at) yahoo.fr
________________________________
De : HIPPOLYTE BWIZA MUHIRE
À : mimpo serge
Envoyé le : Mercredi, 26 Août 2009, 12h02mn 13s
Objet : [GYCA-CentralAfrica] Street Children and HIV/AIDS: A Hidden Time Bomb
Street children and AIDS: a hidden time bomb
Charumathi Supraja
http://www.morungexpress.com/columnists/31566.html
No one knows how many street children are at risk of contracting, or
have died of, HIV/AIDS. They are not even listed as a vulnerable
group, like commercial sex workers and homosexuals. Yet the sexual
exploitation and drug abuse that is an inevitable part of their lives,
points to a serious problem in urgent need of attention, says
Charumathi Supraja.
Geetha (14), Dara (9) and Raju (16) live under an unused bus shelter
in Bangalore. They share food, habits, 'solution' (a substance they
are addicted to) and attitudes to life. Geetha's biological mother is
the only adult their gang has regular contact with. She pimps, begs
and sells sex for a living. The children pick plastic scrap and papers
thrown around the bus stand for a living; some of them indulge in
petty thefts and some sell sexual favours.
All of them know about and have resided for different lengths of time
in NGO or government homes in the last four years. All of them
"escaped". The street, they say, is their "choice" and they like the
"freedom and friendship" it offers.
Street children are not basically depraved, lazy, trouble-mongerers.
They are deprived, abjectly neglected children who are barely visible
except as a threat or nuisance. Runaway children, missing children,
children orphaned by AIDS, children of street dwellers (who do not
keep in touch with their parents or vice versa) land up on the
streets.
If social service organisations do not interrupt their induction into
street life, they turn into 'hard-core' street children. Such children
are highly mobile, abused at multiple levels and totally deprived of
adult affection and normal adult influence. They survive the threats
of street life by joining gangs that introduce them to strategies like
"sex for comfort, pleasure and money," and "drugs for bliss and loss
of pain".
Lacking a nutritious environment in more ways than one, these children
fall prey to the worst diseases that affect neglected groups and
communities. HIV-AIDS is just one of them.
In 2001-2002, a clinical child and adolescent psychologist from the
Netherlands, Meindert Schaap, conducted in-depth research on the
sexual life-worlds of 25 teenage street boys, aged 12-16. The research
showed 'an early onset of sexual activity and a very rapid sexual
career among street boys. Same-sex activities (mutual masturbation and
anal sex) are far more common than sex with girls. Most street boys
have sex with multiple partners and have had sexual encounters with
(street) prostitutes.'
The motives to engage in sex include 'pleasure, immediate
lust-reduction and material gain (food, money, drugs).' All in all,
sex is not a big deal: "You eat, you drink, you have sex".'
The study also found that only a few street boys seemed to have
reasonably good knowledge of sexual health. The misconceptions were
widespread and included beliefs like anal sex with boys is harmless
and that 'HIV/AIDS can be easily recognised by sight and that HIV is
easily spread by mouth.' Condoms are used, if at all, for heterosexual
activities.
Meindert says that compared to 1994, when he started working in this
sector, street children are less visible today. They now have recourse
to odd jobs and solid jobs and not only rag-picking. "Though this may
be good in one way, it is more difficult to reach out to them now as
the situation is definitely still one of ignorance in regard to high
risk sexual behaviours," he says.
Vasudev Sharma, Chairperson, Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Bangalore,
says that globally the concept of Orphans and Vulnerable Children
(OVC) with respect to HIV-AIDS is being discussed. "The situation of
children who have lost either or both parents to AIDS is very bad.
There are no statistics recording the numbers of such children. There
is no provision made by the government for these children, who are
ostracised by the community. They run away to cities in search of
anonymity and a better life and fall onto the streets. They are doubly
at risk," he says.
During interviews, it is routine for street children from ages 8-18 to
admit to having and "buying" sex under the influence of drugs, peers
and a sexual environment on the streets, he says. "Girls (even as
young as eight) forced to live independently on the streets or
platforms are most abused sexually," according to Sharma. Seeking
protection, they join a gang and even the boys in the same gang use
them. These girls do not know of protective measures and are highly
susceptible to HIV infection, says Sharma.
He confirms that most street children lose awareness of their bodies
and surroundings under the influence of addictive substances like
solvents and adhesives. "I have seen scrap shops giving street
children a couple of bottles of 'Erasex' as part payment for scrap,"
he says. "When typewriters have become archaic and whiteners are
available as pens, why do so many bottles of 'Erasex' sell? An
investigation should be carried out on this product," he says.
As a protective measure, the Juvenile Justice Act has made it
mandatory for children 'hanging around aimlessly on the streets' to be
put into Government Homes where they can have access to health and
education facilities, but these Homes are not very child-friendly.
Drawing attention to the particular vulnerability of boys, Sharma
says, "Many people think boys are safe. But boys are as susceptible to
abuse, HIV and Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) infection, if not
more." Traditionally, society views girls as more vulnerable but
street boys get HIV infections very easily because of their low
awareness and addiction to 'sex for pleasure' at a very young age.
"They are always moving around, changing partners and thus spreading
the virus."
Shockingly, neither the government nor private organisations know how
many children on the streets are HIV-positive, says Sharma. According
to Meindert's informal estimates, at least 150-250 teenage street
children in Bangalore are getting infected by HIV every year.
Most organisations working for street children - including Jagruthi,
Association for Promoting Social Action (APSA), Bangalore Oniyavara
Seva Coota (BOSCO) and government instituted agencies say that street
children who come in contact with them are not tested for HIV unless
they fall sick repeatedly or have come from a background that merits a
test. The street background in itself is not accepted as a reason for
doing the test.
This scenario is complicated by the moralistic view taken of sex and
sexuality issues by society in general and the government in
particular. According to field workers, social, religious and cultural
barriers prevent the widespread acknowledgement and discussion of the
sexualised lives of street children.
"HIV-AIDS cannot be discussed without talking about sex and
sexuality," says Meindert, "and how many governments endorse sex
education?" The general belief is that children can have nothing to do
with sex. To break the silence on sexuality and train field social
workers, APSA has conducted workshops for other NGOs. The field
testing of APSA's sexual health intervention programme is on in three
southern Indian states.
Renu Appachu, director of Jagruthi, runs two homes for rehabilitated
street children and victims of trafficking. "There are about 30 to 40
HIV-positive children in my home of 100 children," she says. "When I
see a HIV-positive child I know we have failed." She says the number
of boys in sex work is underestimated and this is adding another
dimension to the problem of HIV/AIDS. "The boys don't leave that line
though they have a very painful life," she adds.
Over years of working with hard-core street children, Meindert has
learnt that "children tell you the truth and trust you, if you are
non-judgemental in your approach, show genuine interest in their
lives, respect them and listen to them." He views the issue of street
children's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS as a "hidden time bomb" that
people in India do not yet recognise as a serious threat.
I meet Geetha on a working, weekday morning when the bus stand is
teeming with people. She has stopped by to chat with a field social
worker at the Child Rescue Booth, run by the NGO BOSCO, in the bus
stand. "I live here," she says, when I ask. She holds a plastic sack
over her left shoulder and a blue, checked handkerchief stained white,
in her right hand. Her eyes are yellow and glazed over, and her speech
is slightly slurred but her gaze is direct and fearless. Her hair is
unkempt, her clothes dirty. She reacts with shock to the social
worker's disclosure that "the boy from the platform" died of AIDS last
week. His death led to the discovery of his HIV infection..
Geetha's friend Raju takes me to their adda (den) under the bus
shelter, where we meet Dara, who hasn't gone to the hostel (a day-time
open shelter for street children) today. Dara and Raju sniff
'solution' and tell me about their life. They ran away from their
homes years ago. "My uncle used to beat me," says Dara. "I wanted to
come to Bangalore," says Raju. They have worked in hotels, industries,
and as coolies. They say they stuck to rag-picking because they were
"cheated, used and beaten" in the other jobs.
Dara says, "They all beat. I'll never go to any hostel full-time,
especially the Government Home." Raju says they each need three to
four bottles of 'solution' per day. They bathe in the hamams or in
railway station bathrooms, wear "good clothes" and watch two movies
every week. They sometimes play computer games in the shop nearby.
They tell me that lots of people push "children like us" to do "bad
work." But "in our group, we stick together and don't go for all
that," says Raju. He sums up his life in the bus stand:
"Aaraamaagideevi. Bindaasaagideevi (We are comfortable and free)."
from AIDS-Beyond-Borders (at) googlegroups.com
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BWIZA MUHIRE HIPPOLYTE
Central Africa Regional Focal Point
Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS
P.O 30 Huye- Butare/Rwanda
Cell Phone: +250 788 60 42 94
hippolyte (at) youthaidscoalition.org
www.youthaidscoalition.org
www.iAIDS.org
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