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By Armando F. de Jesus, Ph. D., Special To
The Manila Times
THERE are about 1.5 million children in Philippine streets. Half
of them have, at one time or another, inhaled and may actually be
inhaling household glue (more commonly known by the popular brand
name rugby).
Why are they in streets and why do they take to
drugs?
These two questions were what we sought to
answer when we undertook to document the lives of 20 street
children, aged 7 to 17 (three girls and 17 boys) in the areas of
Araneta Avenue in Quezon City and Malate in Manila.
Each street child had something unique to tell.
Yet the similarities in their accounts are so striking that the
story of one could just as well have been the story of the others.
They have similar life circumstances, face the
same daily challenges, and are exposed to the same risks and dangers
of street living.
Their family life is marked by the absence of a
nurturing condition. Discrimination, favoritism, negligence and
abuse are common.
In some rare cases when they live with their
parents and siblings, parents have irregular jobs if not totally
unemployed. Most frequently, only one is the original parent, the
other a step-father or -mother. In other cases, they live with
relatives or with surrogate families to whom they are not related.
Their “families” tend to be large (from
three to seven children) and the problem of too many mouths to feed
is a constant challenge.
‘Cariño brutal’
Physical abuses by surrogate parents are common.
Strangely, the children do not regard these abuses as violations of
their dignity but “cariño brutal.”
The children are egged on, if not forced, to
work in order to add to the family income.
Most children have attended some schooling but
none has gone beyond first-year high school. School could not be
sustained for lack of money and motivation.
Their deprived condition is mirrored in shanties
where they live. Their houses are no more than scraps of wood,
plywood and carton put together. There is no privacy and the family
sleeps together in a cramped room that also serves as living and
dining room.
The street kids look shabby, dirty and always
holding a bottle half-filled with household glue. They smell bad and
seldom take a bath.
Health and nutrition are not primary concerns.
Meals are irregular. Despite this, they rarely get sick presumably
because of the natural immunities their bodies have developed.
Theirs is a hand-to-mouth existence.
Street life
Most of the kids are unable to tell when their
life in the street began. It is as if they had been born into it and
that for as long as they could remember the street had always been
part of their lives.
The street gives to them what they would have
got at a proper home—freedom, play, independence and
self-reliance.
The life of a street child revolves around five
consuming preoccupations: earn money, eat, play, inhale household
glue and sleep. The cycle repeats day in and day out.
The day starts late for most. And the place of
their rising up may differ from morning to morning.
Earning a living is a daily preoccupation and it
is in the street where they find the opportunity to do so.
Having earned some money, food comes naturally
as the next important preoccupation. Their typical meal is a kind of
porridge that they call “kabaw”—or “kanin at sabaw.”
When there is no money, they resort to begging
for food scraps.
One meal a day is perhaps what a street child
can most realistically expect. Having more is a bonus.
It is not rare for a street child to resort to
extreme measures, as Marlon, 16, relates: “I once ate dirty food
and water and my stomach ached so much. It was just near the house
where we gather garbage. I was brought to the hospital.”
The other consuming preoccupation is household
glue. It has become part of the daily routine and sniffing it comes
almost as naturally as eating and sleeping. It has become, in a
sense, part of their survival mechanism in the city jungle.
Sleep marks the end of the day. As with waking
up, there is no regular place for sleeping. For many, sleep takes
place where nightfall overtakes them or wherever their drugged body
finds it convenient to rest.
The next day the cycle begins again.
Play
As the children struggle with life in the
street, they have to be content with some inherent hazards. Some of
the perils include violence, prostitution, arrest and jail. Gang
brawls are usual.
Still, they are able to find creative ways to
give expression to what is normal to children. The streets where
they engage in the serious enterprise of making a living are also
where the children pursue satisfaction of their natural
predisposition for play.
To live in the street is to live by the day.
Preoccupation with how to survive for the day leaves little time for
children to plan out their future.
Nonetheless, the children are not without life
aspirations.
They talk about going back to school, about
working and helping their families, to work in a fast-food center,
to be a jeepney driver, policeman, fireman, carpenter, gasoline
station attendant, store assistant or househelp.
One of them wants to be a physician. Another has
hopes of becoming an acrobat and going abroad.
There are a few, however, who neither signify
any interest in anything nor aspire to be someone in better
circumstances. They are so deep in desperation that they cannot
think of any plan for their future.
(Dr. Armando F. de Jesus is the dean of the
College of Arts and Letters, University of Sto. Tomas.)
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