CAIRO: “Street Children are the responsibility of our society, was the message of Saturday’s one day festival to spread awareness of Egypt’s street children. Celebrated with a wide variety of children’s activities such as face painting, live music and workshops to educate both children and adults about this growing phenomenon, the festival was hailed a great success.
But beneath the liveliness of the day’s events and the glamorous press allure granted by film star and UN Goodwill ambassador Khalid Abol Naga, the grim reality of street children remains often too controversial for the appetite of the public.
Although director-writer Ahmed Atef’s “El Ghaba – the 90-minute film on the widely publicized tale of El Torbini, the gang leader who was convicted of raping street children and throwing them off train tops – drew a large crowd, that doesn’t compensate for the fact that it took years and many slamming of doors before he found the money to make the film.
“There are no reliable studies that can accurately count the number of street children, said Hany Hilal in a seminar delivered before a press audience.
Hilal, member and councilor of the Egyptian Organization for Children’s Rights, frankly described some of the severe hardships faced by street children and their abuse at the hands of those whose fundamental job is to protect them. “They are not treated well by the police. One boy said he had asked the police if he could be used in the station to do menial tasks, such as washing the floor in exchange for being left alone on the streets.
“When they are arrested, because they have no identity or birth certificates to prove their date of birth, many cannot prove they are under 18, and are sent to prison, which of course does little to prevent their re-entry into crime, Hilal continued.
But the picture may be brightening up with new laws to protect street children from arrest in the pipeline.
“Children need protection, not punishment. We are currently looking at the case of a seven-year-old being brought before a judge. This is wrong, said Hilal. “The constitution should support the child. These news laws will be the first in which society itself will participate.
However, even with new laws, social workers are fearful that for the current generation of street children, re-absorption into a healthy environment is nearly impossible.
“Children’s psychology changes as a result of living on the street. We have tried to give them shelters but they often end up going back to their streets of their own accord, said Hana Abol Ghar, a children’s doctor at Cairo University and member of the Hope Village society, relating the results of a study done with a sample of 100 girls who left home to live on the streets.
The study entitled “A Psychological and Physical Study of Victims of Sexual Exploitation explores the various effects of sexual exploitation of street girls as well as the reasons behind their leaving home. “Many do not realize the violence they will encounter when they go to the streets; often they go to escape violent families, but violence, often sexual, becomes a way of life. A girl who is exposed to rape once takes a lifetime to recover. There is now a new generation of street children as a result of rape and ‘sexual protection’ – because these girls will often take a partner to protect them from other men.
The severity of the problem has increased notably with changes in society, including the moves towards privatization and lack of social security, which has been accompanied by a rise in prices and poverty. Researchers have found that one of the ramifications of these conditions is a break down of the family system.
“We must not call them ‘street children,’ they are children who live in the street; children who leave their family at home to search for a family in the street. We, as a society, must take a bit of time to get to know these children, said Khalid Abol Naga.
“We tend to ignore them when they come begging, and that’s natural, but we should ask them their names, where they live, if they go to school. I got to know a child called Ali in Zamalek. I asked him what ordinary people can do for children like him. ‘We just want to be loved’, he said.
